Tokyo Mutant Ninja Turtles
by Azure Umbra
Summary: An AU/re-imagining where the events of the show take place in Japan instead of America. This applies to our main cast being born and raised there as well. This will mainly be a series of one-shots for now, but maybe there'll be some sizeable plots somewhere later down the line. Any constructive criticism is welcome.
1. Tokyo: Mutant Ninjas' Takoyaki

_So, I already know that our friendly neighborhood turtles are a New York-thing. But one day, I had an idea as to what if the whole TMNT adventure happened in Japan instead, so this fic is born. You can take this as an AU or a re-imagining, if you like. Just opting for a more 'traditional' environment, you know?_

 _For now, I'm intending this to be a series of one-shots which focus on particular instances in life for the cast. Might include battles with some famed and not-so-famed enemies too. Expect most one-shots to take place in Tokyo, though I've also dabbled with the idea of an alternate version/continuity where the cast lives in Osaka, but that'll come later._

 _Also with this change, I've changed the main characters' names to fit in with the new setting, so here are their new Japanese-versions:_

Leonardo = **Hamato Hokusai** (濱戸 北斎) / Leo = **Hoku**

Raphael = **Hamato Hiroshige** (濱戸 広重) / Raph = **Hiro**

Donatello = **Hamato Basho** (濱戸 芭蕉) / Donnie = **Basho** (name stays the same)

Michelangelo = **Hamato Monzaemon** (濱戸 門左衛門) / Mikey = **Mon**

April O'Neil = **Uzuki** (卯月), last name – **Onishi** (大西)

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

Tokyo: Mutant Ninjas' Takoyaki 

It was a warm breezy night in downtown **Shibuya.** As it was every night in this colorfully lit advert-saturated district of **Tokyo,** the buildings and its thousands of residents sprang to life once the sun had gone down completely. Crowds walked out and about, looking either at their phones or what the electronic billboards above were showing and audibly announcing from their built-in speakers. Displays went from showing some cute company mascots to what the latest little handheld product was. Though that was quite common regardless, it allowed most of the citizens present to lighten up a bit. The younger ones lightened up a little more than others especially, considering this was a Saturday night.

But with all the upcoming day-off excitement, no one noticed the peculiarity on top of the glass-covered building which stood at the vertex of Shibuya's scramble crossing. Just underneath the Q-FRONT sign that stood atop the building with a soft white glow, four pairs of eyes were silently assessing the activity on the streets below. Each pair scanned intuitively in directions separate from one another until one stopped in the direction of one area downwardly ahead.

"Doesn't look like the upward stares are coming down," a youthfully mature voice came quietly from one of the pairs of eyes, dark blue irises staring down with anticipation. They looked to the pair of brown eyes right beside them, "You found an opening yet?"

The pair of brown eyes being asked stared down with heated concentration at a glowing screen, tapping at a bunch of digitally displayed buttons on what looked like a small handheld device. "The big screens stop showing the special ads and switch to the everyday ones every once in a while. We should be able to zip by with most of their heads down in the next fifteen minutes or so."

The blue-eyes narrowed and nodded in affirmation before turning back to look down at the scramble crossing. The amount of time that was proposed had ticked away steadily, but when it was finally time to move, a green-skinned arm rose beside the pair of eyes, appearing faintly within the shadows. The hand, which only had two fingers and a thumb, was balled up in a fist, the rest of the arm bent at the elbow. The arm remained raised with the other three pairs of eyes waiting in anticipation, and watched the people walking below.

"Counting down," the brown eyes whispered, "in three, two, one…" Just like that, the walls of extravagant ads that were playing on every building blinked and were replaced with images of simpler stuffs. Crowd after crowd of people steadily began dropping their heads down from looking at what was now playing again in an endless cycle. But for the four hiding in the shadows above, it was a moment to be alive.

"Now's our chance," the blue eyes whispered a little more loudly and commandingly, "let's move." In a flash, all four raced to the edge of the building's right rooftop corner away from the Q-FRONT sign and took a powerful leap. Without any civilians being the wiser, four shadows were flying over their heads in an arc between rooftops, descending from the glass building toward the next building's rooftop, even taking a moment to do a trick along the way. Landing directly onto the brownish pavilion that stood above the DHC-Channel advert screen, the four's features became distinguishably more noticeable under the aquatic lights of the Hisamitsu-Salon Pass sign that shone from behind. They were turtles, specifically turtles that stood on two legs like humans, had the bodily proportions of humans, and had color-coded bandanas wrapped around their eyes like masks, with eyeholes allowing their eyes to see through, of course.

One turtle wore a blue mask, its two tails fluttering in the night breeze. He had momentarily been kneeling on the rooftop surface after landing before standing up to broaden his view of the cityscapes once again. His deep blue eyes did not betray his focus.

Another turtle, one who was slightly shorter and stockier, stood a little further behind the blue-masked one, his green eyes angled into a gruff expression behind his red mask. His mouth was faintly curved downward into a frown. "Hey leader, when are we getting to the park?" he audibly called to the blue-masked turtle, his arms raised to indicate that he had asked a question, rather demandingly. "This is taking too long!"

"We need to make sure we get there by the best route possible," the blue-masked turtle answered, having not even turned to face the other. "We're ninjas, so we've got to stay quiet and unseen."

This earned him a huff from his red-masked compatriot. "In Tokyo? Well, in case you haven't looked around," he remarked sarcastically, "Shibuya isn't exactly Mutant City."

"Well, maybe not Shibuya, but if you want to be technical about nonhuman names, there is the nickname 'City of the Beasts' that's attributed to **Shinjuku** ," a more scholarly-toned voice interrupted. The red and blue-masked turtles both turned to look at their fellow turtle wearing a purple mask pressing away at his touchscreen phone. He looked leaner than either of them but stood taller than both by a few more inches. "But that's mainly just manga stuff. Shibuya, on the other hand, is usually called 'the town for young people.'"

Listening to the purple-masked turtle's exposition made the red one glower even more, having already turned his shelled back with his arms crossed. "Oh sure, that fits," he muttered under his breath.

"How much further until the park, **Basho**?" the blue-masked turtle asked the purple one, taking care to stay updated as the field leader of his group.

"Not too far," the purple-masked turtle known as Basho replied, "We'll follow the **Yamanote Line** until we reach the Badminton Association building, then we'll cut across the exit street and past the stadium into the nearby trees while avoiding the lit areas." After doing a final calculation on his phone, the gadget gave a jingle to confirm his thoughts. "We'll be deep in Yoyogi Park's foliage cover before anyone sees us and we'll be right on time."

"Hey **Hokusai** , can't we go say hi to Hachiko-san first?" a youthful voice rang out. The three turtles looked back at the Hisamitsu-Salon Pass sign toward the origin of the voice. Lying down on his shell in a relaxed posture was the fourth turtle, having taken up a temporary spot below the lit sign. Out of all four, he was the shortest. A bright orange mask was wrapped around his pale blue eyes and secured by a bow-like knot, not having the long tails as the other three's masks. His face was boyishly round and his cheeks were faintly sprinkled with freckles. His form had been given a greenish tint from the light emitted by the sign's Salon Pass section, which was as static as the white katakana characters composing its name, 'Salon Pass.' The Hisamitsu section above, on the other hand, was composed of white English letters over a blue screen instead, with the 'H' being stylized.

"No time, **Monzaemon** ," said Hokusai, the blue-masked turtle. "We're too far away from **Shibuya Station** and we'll be late if we do anyway. Besides, there's nowhere around there we can hide."

"Aw," the orange-masked turtle Monzaemon groaned. He rolled back onto his front and did a forward flip onto his feet. "But I wanted to tell him all about that new anime that came out a few weeks ago. Now he's going to miss out!" Monzaemon skittered over to his older brother and bowed a little bit, his hands together and eyes like they were watering. "Please?" he begged, his clasped hands shaking.

Hokusai looked down towards the little one's face, feeling a bit hesitant to tell him how it really is. Taking a breath and readying his hands to place them on Monzaemon's shoulders, he readied himself to speak, "Well, Mon, you see –"

"He's a statue," interrupted the red-masked turtle.

" **Hiroshige**!" Hokusai scolded before turning his eyes back to Monzaemon, whose eyes got really wide with the expressed shock of a child whose imagination had just gotten smashed to bits. "Um, Mon, you okay?"

"Hey," Mon immediately protested, "He's a good dog. Someone's got to tell him what's up. Why can't it be me?" Seeing him so adamant left Hokusai at a loss for words since the littlest turtle was quite emotional most of the time and the older one had no time for these shows.

 _"He's kind of with his owner now, so,"_ Hokusai thought. Opening his mouth, he assured Mon, "Well, to tell you, Mon, Hiro does have a point in that Hachiko is a statue." Detecting Mon's eyes widening a little more, Hokusai was quick to clarify his statement with a joking smile, "But as a statue in public, he's got tons of people who talk to him, and…" he gently pushed Mon off himself until they were both standing a few inches apart, "…he's got a nice garden where he never gets bored in, plus he's asleep most of the time, so he won't get bored, not tonight, not anytime."

Monzaemon looked up at Hokusai like it was the weirdest thing he had ever heard, his lower lip tensed like he was about to recoil from a rather confusing thought. He still felt like he ought to go down there and pay dear Hachiko a visit, tell him about that anime, even sneak in a copy of another manga he had gotten into reading recently to show the dog statue. He just hoped Hiroshige wouldn't be around if that happened, since the tempered turtle was not above ever-expanding his far larger collection of manga that he kept stockpiled in his room back at the lair. But he also knew that when Hokusai said no, he was almost always serious, and the former trusted the latter's judgment and reasons for each course of action issued. "Well okay, if you say so, Hoku," Mon shrugged. Hoku took his hands off Mon and turned back to look at the next rooftop ahead of the group. It was time to keep moving.

* * *

Following the Yamanote Line was easy, since it looked so much more obvious than the other asphalt roads that interconnected across the ward. Jumping from the Nippon Badminton Association building, the turtles made a nonstop dash across the nearby exit street and into the surrounding trees until they were making their way past the **Yoyogi National Stadium**. Looking at the massive ovular arena which had the suspended roof in the shape of two conjoined teardrops, all four couldn't help but wonder what sorts of matches were being held tonight. Maybe they could go in some other time, maybe next week.

Going deeper into the wooded areas of **Yoyogi Park** , the four turtles took care to go only where the lights didn't reach them, staying either in the tree branches or in the bushes to avoid going into areas where people happened to be walking around in. The whole park itself was a sea of trees, being large in hectares and all. But it was already hard given that it was Saturday and plenty of youngsters were looking forward to a whole Sunday off tomorrow…and they knew that someone was also one of those people, so they didn't want to risk drawing her displeasure by making her wait longer than they promised her. Hiding among the branches of one leafy tree, Hiroshige, Basho, and Monzaemon were hunched down and waiting for Hokusai's signal. The tree they were on happened to be standing on the edge of one of the park's large ponds which was sprinkled by the sprayed droplets of a fountain that stood on a rectangular base elevated just above the water. Ahead of them was a small grassy island with another tree standing on it.

"She's waiting for us on the other side of the pond," Hoku whispered. "On my mark, we get to the next tree on the island and then down to where she is." The four waited, only their eyes visible within the darkness. A few seconds had passed, and with the last audible sounds of other footsteps coming from the right of the pond having faded away, the blue-masked leader signaled the all-clear. Clearing the tree they were on, the four turtles prepared another dash and with a powerful push off the branches feet first, they flew into the air with the intent of landing on the other side without a drop of water getting on them. They succeeded when they landed on the little grass island past the fountain. After speedily climbing up the island's tree, they then readied themselves to take another leap to the grass-covered shore of the pond. The girl in front of them stood on the edge of the water, her back turned to the turtles soaring closer to her at the moment.

"Mommy, look!"

The voice that suddenly cut through the air was what shot the turtles down from their aerial leap. In an instant, their graceful maneuver broke down into a flying crash as they simultaneously fell into the waters of the pond in a perfect vertical. Yanking themselves back to the surface, with Mon even spitting out a little stream of water he accidentally swallowed, they all looked wide-eyed at the direction of the voice's source. Standing across from them on the grassy shore was a small boy with an older woman who could only be his mother. Seeing the boy's surprised face coupled with his mother's subdued look of apprehension was what got the turtles tensed up. The water most certainly did not do much to calm their hearts.

"Big turtle people," the boy exclaimed, "Are you kappa?" The turtles, especially Hokusai, knew that they needed to act fast. The boy was already talking loudly and his mother about to take off in the direction of nearby crowds, so the leader had to get their cover back as fast as he could. Noticing the boy's mother taking a step back while tightening her grip on his hand, Hoku made the first move.

"No, no, not kappa," Hoku replied sheepishly with a forced smile, raising both his hands just above the water in a defensive position. "We're just…turtle…people…in costumes. Yeah! That's it!" He didn't notice Hiroshige sinking down until only his eyes were above the water, said eyes closed tightly in an exasperated cringe while Hiroshige himself was loudly blowing bubbles.

Mon decided to help Hoku out and got in on the action. "Uh, yep," he added with his own wary but lighthearted smile, "we're just costumed turtle people…coming to you live from **Harajuku** …doing a practice swim for our show."

"You guys really need to make it to rehearsal," Basho remarked backhandedly, his deadpanned face masking his tensed feelings at the very moment, "why don't we just go back to Harajuku?"

"Good idea," Hiroshige bubbled.

A female voice suddenly cut in. "They are, and they're with me."

Everyone present turned their heads to the side to find a teenage girl walking towards the group. For the turtles, it was the same girl they had their eyes on when they were leaping across the pond earlier. She wore a yellow shirt that had a stylized black icon on it, a light grey hoodie overtop that was unzipped and open, a longer black shirt underneath and partly hung below to give the impression of a skirt, blue denim jeans, and black sneakers. Her hair, which had a tint lighter than most Japanese though not that light, reached down to her collarbone and was tied up into two straight pigtails.

She continued, "They're _kame_ (turtle) performers who're part of a new mythical creatures-themed troupe. I was just supervising tonight's tryout here at the park." She ended her statement a bit apologetically.

The boy's mother spoke up, "So they're cosplayers? And why're they doing swim practice in the park?"

"No, they're not cosplayers, just trying a new look based on Harajuku-fashionistas," the girl answered the woman's first question. Moving on to her second question, "And what's wrong with practicing in Yoyogi Park? Everyone does it, at least everyone in Shibuya, right?" She didn't get a response from either the woman or her little son, so she improvised some more, holding her hands up as some form of laidback guessing, "They're like those Sunday rockabillies, only reptile." She waited, her foot tapping on the grass, hoping that she didn't need to do any more explaining. Finally, the woman looked down at her son and beckoned him to come along with her, walking away until they were nowhere to be seen among the throngs of people enjoying their evening.

As soon as the two were gone, the girl immediately let out a blow of exhausted air before bending down to put her hands on her knees, apparently stressed out from telling her cover story. After taking a moment, she stood up straight again and turned back to the four turtles floating in the water, giving a wry smile while placing her hands on her hips. "Harajuku costumers, huh?" she cheekily inquired of them.

"Thanks, Uzuki," Mon happily spoke first, both his hands raised and clasped together above the water, "you really saved our shells."

"I helped first, you know," Hoku was quick to speak up.

"Yeah, we know," Hiroshige, or Hiro as he was also called, quipped, "and that was a close call." All Hokusai could do at that moment was give him a look of irritation, which the red-masked turtle didn't seem to be fazed by.

"You're welcome," Uzuki responded to Mon in kind, "and by the way, you're late."

"Sorry about that," Basho chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "I was so sure we would meet just before the dot, but we got held up by external variables…of the people kind." He felt sheepish about explaining him and his brother's situation like that, but it wasn't his fault he liked being himself around her. He was a little nervous, but he couldn't help but keep trying to be free-spirited. "I trust you got that order?"

"Still warm," Uzuki pulled out a box from behind her. She held it out gingerly in front of her, prompting the turtles to move closer to the shore and further out of the water for a closer look. It wasn't very windy, so the aroma coming from the box had no difficulty making its way to the terrapins' noses. With a whiff, they were soothed. Hoku let out an entranced sigh, his eyelids briefly becoming heavy. Hiro held a closed smile, licking his lips and clapped and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Basho had a widened toothy grin on his face, baring the diastema on his upper jaw for everyone to see. Mon let his mouth drop open, panting with his tongue hanging out like he was dying to have what was in the box. Uzuki was just enjoying the view as she took in her four turtle friends' reaction to what she considered to be a plain treat.

"Is that what I think it is?" Hiro asked, pointing at the box.

"Uh-huh, that's exactly what it is," Uzuki answered proudly. "Brought to you all the way from…" she humorously paused, "…and no, it's not Harajuku: Murakami-san's homemade takoyaki!"

"Yeah!" the turtles quietly cheered, their arms raised high. Uzuki sat down on the grass in front of them as they made their way out of the pond to sit around her and opened the box, revealing palm-sized balls of baked dough containing chopped pieces of octopus, tempura, pickled ginger, and green onion, all of which were steamed. She extended the box out to each turtle, allowing them to reach into the box to grab a takoyaki ball. Each of them were already popping one in their mouths, though it did alternate between casually eating one to rapidly finishing one at a time to even grabbing a handful, especially by Mon. Hoku was quick to discourage that from his youngest brother.

"Man, so good," Hiro mumbled while chewing. He called to Uzuki, "We really should go back to Murakami-san's place again sometime."

Uzuki was lying on her side on the grass while enjoying a takoyaki ball. "That would be good," she replied relaxingly. "Maybe sometime tomorrow morning, I'll bring crepes to your place."

Hiro and also Basho stared upward dreamily. _"Yeah,"_ they both thought, _"I'd really like that."_

The night went on as people played out in the park and walked about leisurely on the streets, even though they had not noticed that one little group privately enjoying takoyaki together in the shadows under the trees. But even if they were a bit more visible, none of the five seemed to mind anyways.

The night was still young after all.

* * *

 _Here's a fun fact:_  
 _The turtles' new names are based off the names of artists from Japan's Edo Period. This was as close to Italian Renaissance artists as I could find in a Japanese counterpart. Here's who they are:_

 **Katsushika Hokusai** (葛飾 北斎) – An artist, Ukiyo-e painter, and printmaker of the Edo period, creator of the iconic woodblock print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa"

 **Utagawa Hiroshige** (歌川 広重) – He was considered to be the last great master of the Ukiyo-e art, specialized in woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga painting

 **Matsuo Bashō** (松尾 芭蕉) – The most famous poet of the Edo period, recognized as the greatest master of haiku

 **Chikamatsu Monzaemon** (近松 門左衛門) – He was widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatist, specialized in Jōruri – the progenitor to bunraku and kabuki

 _What did you think of this first one-shot of my new idea? Constructive criticism, along with any questions about this 'verse, is welcome._


	2. Tokyo: One Shizukani Visit

Tokyo: One Shizukani Visit

Down in a quiet neighborhood of apartment blocks in the **Meguro** ward, Uzuki – **Ōnishi Uzuki** – was occupied with going over some last bits of school notes she had written only earlier in the day at school. Uzuki wasn't really unlike any other student. She jotted down every bit of new info, she kept quiet in class, she raised her hand when a teacher prompted it, and the like. It wasn't like school was her whole life. She knew that even if most of the stuff being spoken about in classes were less than 50% likely to be used in real life, they ought to have been useful for other kinds of situations she didn't yet have a name for. So for now in this phase of her life, she stuck to behaving herself. At least she still got to draw some satisfaction out of getting to juggle her school life with her other more fun teenage life with four other teenagers. In fact, she envied all four of those teens who had the luxury of never having the responsibilities she's had to inevitably receive since birth.

It was at that point Uzuki decided that she was done studying for the night. Leaning back on her chair that sat in front of her desk, she spun around a bit and sat still for a moment, allowing her brain to relax. She decided to at least listen to some tunes before washing up and getting ready for bed.

 _"Hang in there. Saturday's just around the corner,"_ she thought to herself. Tonight was technically still a Thursday. _"Why couldn't we have a weekend more like America's? They get double the fun…and rest too."_ A few minutes later, Uzuki was sitting down on the tatami, leaning back against the sliding door of her closet as her eyes were closed and earbuds stuffed in her ears. Said earbuds were connected to her flat touchscreen phone which was displaying a picture depicting an album by **Amethyst** , a favorite singer of hers, and also for some of the turtles, surprisingly. Not that they were all devoted fans of her, but knew that Hiro and Mon liked her music a lot, Hiro especially. Maybe it was just his rebellious demeanor coupled with his penchant for the rough and shadier arts.

Uzuki was halfway into her tune-listening break when she thought she heard a faint thumping coming from her window. Slowly and cautiously taking her earbuds off, she only found a brief moment of silence. She waited for a moment before jumping back slightly as the thumping returned, sounding much louder due to her having nothing in her ears this time. Lightly stepping towards the window, Uzuki held up her arms cautiously, slowly reaching towards the shuttered window pane and gently pulled at it. Sliding the panel, the opening revealed the night sky and the cityscapes, only to immediately expose four mutant turtles hanging around the outside of the window frame. One of them wearing an orange mask named Mon gave a tiny brief wave.

"Hi Uzuki," Mon meekly greeted.

Uzuki gave a deep rumbling sigh, not having expected a surprise visit from her four terrapin friends after an evening of grueling work and sorting out priorities. "Hi guys, what brings you here?" She asked them all this with a somewhat forced grin on her face. Not that she didn't want them around right now, but it was a rather inopportune time to pay a visit and she had yet to wind down from the stress of homework. "I don't really have any plans with you right now."

"Aw, don't be that way," Basho the purple-masked turtle chipped in in a sing-song manner, "we just wanted to…see how you're doing, that's all."

"You mean _you_ wanted to see how she's doing, Basho," the red-masked turtle Hiro cut in loudly, having turned his head away from the window and held an expression of nonchalant sarcasm. The emphasis on 'you' was enough to make Basho flinch and pucker up in childish terror. In his mind, he scrambled to come up with some sort of plausible counterstatement. Thankfully, Uzuki decided to speak up again, giving the brainy turtle some assurance that the previously mentioned insinuation would be dropped.

"Well, I'm doing fine, if that's what you're asking," she sighed. "Had to finish up another round of assignments and was thinking of treating myself for another hour or two." Her tight smile softened to the point that it looked more natural and sincere. "But thanks anyway. What are you all up to?"

"Well," Hoku, the turtle with the blue mask, spoke while hoisting himself onto the bottom ledge of the window, balancing on it while facing Uzuki eye to eye, "we were actually out on patrol at the edge of Shibuya. While we were rooftop-hopping, Basho here," he looked down to his purple masked brother who shirked deeper into the shadows, "told us that we were just passing by your neighborhood. So with his suggestion, we came to say hello." Basho tried to shrink himself even deeper into the darkness, prompting Hiro and Mon to snicker. But they were immediately silenced by a stern look from their blue-masked leader.

That didn't stop Basho from composing another defense though. "Well, I mean, I just pointed it out," was his explanation. "We're just moving, I see something I recognize, then –"

"Thanks, Basho," Uzuki cut him off, stunning him into silence, "that's very considerate of you." The sheer audible force of the compliment was enough to make Basho's grip on the ledge below weaken just a bit, the turtle's eyes widening in bashful surprise. He barely had enough time to give a little chuckle in response when Uzuki finished her compliment, "I'll always remember that." Those final words were the straw that cracked the turtle's shell. His head lopped to the side, his eyes as wide and spirally as ever, and his mouth dropped and sagging open in a delirious smile with a drop of drool oozing from a corner.

Hoku shook his head while rolling his eyes. His bashful younger brother was as full of unexpected mannerisms as he was full of ideas. Hopefully, those ideas he was always having would at least stay within a reasonable range of believability. His attention turned to Hiro who looked the other way with the same frustrated aloofness typical of a brash teen. The red-masked turtle did not care in any way that Basho had it in him to collapse over the girl, but he simply wished Basho would at least try to behave normally in front of her. At least, Uzuki would know that she was being talked to like she was a normal person. Hoku then turned his eyes to look at Mon, who still found the whole thing hilarious.

"Dahaha! Basho's probably looking like he needs a fancy mask right now," the little orange-masked brother joked, "because his looks a little underdressed right now. Why don't we get it a tux –"

 _*WHUPAK*_ "D'ow!"

Mon recoiled in pain at being smacked on the back of his head by Hiro, who gave him a disapproving shake of his own head once the little one turned to face him. However, the moment was immediately followed by another third-party voice suddenly reverberating from Uzuki's bedroom door.

"Uzuki, who are you talking to?"

The voice asking the question was what made Uzuki freeze up. "Oh no," she squeaked.

Her fearful response was what prompted Hoku and the other three turtles to come in closer. "Uzuki, what's wrong?" Hoku asked with equally fearful concern, leaning further past the window until his body partly was inside the girl's room. Hiro, Basho, and Mon pulled themselves up to follow their leader's movements. "Is someone else here?"

Uzuki nodded. "It's my dad," she whispered. "It sounds like he's really close too." Quickly turning to look at the door, she took a few short steps forward though not actually at the door itself. "Uh, just some friends, dad," she called back to her dad, making sure she was heard from the other side of the door.

"Friends?" her dad replied. "Why didn't you tell me you were inviting your friends over? I could've prepared drinks."

Uzuki tensed even more, making a nervous side-eye towards her turtle friends who held a position to be ready to jump back out the window and away from the Ōnishi home should things go south. The girl maintained her composure. "Well…it kind of came as a surprise, just some last minute stuff. Sorry dad." She held her breath, hoping her father would stop asking and just let her be in peace. A few seconds of waiting made her feel sure that the hope she had was the case. She silently thought the turtles would consider leaving to make absolutely sure no hassle would arise, but then she heard her father's voice again.

"Well, I'll just come and say hi."

That made the girl's eyes widen in a snap and take a sharp hissing gasp through clenched teeth. This was bad. It was one thing to have to hear her father call out to her over something suspicious, but for him to actually approach her like this – that was a whole other level of problematic. She had to hurry and stop him. She needed an excuse, anything to make him change his mind.

"Nonono," she called frantically, waving a hand in front of her, "you don't need to do that! They're fine! I told them you sent your regards!" But as soon as she spoke her last word, she heard footsteps right outside her bedroom door – the door that led out into the hallway, the door that either revealed or obscured the interior of her bedroom, the door that her father was about to come and open right now! Looking left and right, she turned around in a zipping speed to face Hoku and the others again who were just about to leap back out and away from the open window frame. But without giving any of them enough time to do just that, Uzuki dove for the sliding window panel with both hands, grabbed it, and threw it closed while shoving Hoku out of there as fast as she could, all at the same time. The bang that sounded from her slamming her sliding window shut happened at the same time her father had just slid open the door to see Uzuki entirely. Uzuki threw herself around again to look directly into her father's eyes, her back upright and rigid from restraining her adrenaline rush and hands clenched together behind her.

Her father looked left and right, scanning her room and raised an eyebrow. "Where are your friends?" he asked, only to immediately hear a loud crashing sound. He and his daughter both leaped from the suddenness of the sound taking them by surprise. "What was that!?" he then exclaimed.

"Huh?" was Uzuki's first response, "uh, probably some wild animal. You know how there's a lot in the city…" she scrambled for another kind of quip, "those garbage lovers…"

"Huh," her father huffed, apparently taking that answer in stride. Turning his full eye contact back to Uzuki, he went back to his previous question. "Weren't you talking to your friends just then?"

Luckily, Uzuki had gotten just enough time to calm down and come up with more sensible answers. "Oh, my friends? I was actually talking to them on the phone. They, uh…called me a little while ago about…some stuff."

"Really?" her father said, "they sounded pretty loud to be just voices on a phone."

"Daaaad," Uzuki responded in a flustering tone, trying not to laugh, "I had the phone on speaker mode so I could hear them better. Of course they were going to sound loud."

A long awkward silence hung in the air between father and daughter, and it only took the daughter to make a faint clearing of her throat for the father to restart the conversation. "Well then," he said, feeling like he got on the wrong foot somewhere, "I…guess I'll leave you to your friend business. Hope you got things sorted out." Uzuki replied with a nod, which her father took to leave her room. He turned his back to her while pulling the bedroom door closed, though not before poking his head back in one last time to say loudly, "Uzuki's father signing off!" He then closed the door.

Giving off a relieved sigh while rolling her eyes, Uzuki turned back to the window she had just slid closed moments earlier. She slid it open again to poke her head outside. "Pst, hey guys," she whispered loudly, staying quiet but just enough to be heard, "where are you?"

"Down here," came a groan from Hoku far below her window. Uzuki looked down to find the turtles piled on top of each other on the asphalt, all expressing pain over a rough landing. Hoku and Basho were lying on the back of their shells while Hiro and Mon were lying down on their plastrons, both appearing to be somewhat flattened. No doubt it was a painful, even if not long, fall.

"So sorry, Hoku," Uzuki whispered apologetically, "my dad was about to come in and I had to get you out before he saw you. I only had so much time." She stopped for a moment to assess their condition. "Are you all okay?"

"We're ninjas," Hoku grunted. "This is… _ow_ …part of what we're trained for." The blue-masked turtle took a moment to rub his sore shell as he sat up.

"A-Okay," was Mon's answer, giving a thumbs-up while still lying down on his plastron.

 _"I totally deserved that,"_ a meek and weak comment came from Basho, who pointed a finger up in affirmation while still lying on his shell. He had known well enough that visiting Uzuki at her home would come with its risks, and since the visit wasn't really on his brothers' itinerary, he realized his suggestion made for an inefficient use of time. It wasn't his most intelligent choice in nightly rooftop hopping. But for now, for sure, it was totally worth it for him. After all, still lying on his shell, he continued to look right up at Uzuki herself.

"Next time, keep your brainy social conventions to yourself," Hiro grumbled at his younger purple-masked brother as he got back on his feet, rubbing his head to alleviate the soreness that he had received from his hard and squashed landing.

Once all four turtles had gotten back on their feet, Hoku motioned to his brothers to follow his lead. One by one, they jumped on the wall of the building next to Uzuki's home, then to the wall of said girl's home, and back to the other wall back and forth, ascending in a zigzag trajectory until they were onto the rooftop of the building across from Uzuki's bedroom window. Regrouping while facing the human girl on the other side of the gap, Hoku made sure to do a sendoff before they left, though Uzuki beat him to it first. "Have fun on the rest of your patrol, you guys," she called from her window. As Hoku responded with a two-finger salute, she added, "See you at the lair Saturday night?"

"See you there," was Hoku's reply.

"Don't surround yourself with walls too much," came a quip from Hiro, who gave a half-lopped smirk and had his arms crossed over his chest. "We wouldn't want you turning into a hikikomori-commuter now, would we?"

Uzuki giggled at the joke, closing her eyes and shaking her head at how rather dry it was. She watched Hiro turn and walk away with the other three turtles as they all went to the edge of the building they were standing on and leaped away to the next and one the next one and the next one. The girl watched them run and leap, getting smaller as they moved further away. It was only when they disappeared from view that she turned back into her room and closed the window shutter. She thought to herself that she could really use a shower right about now, considering how hiding the turtles from her dad made her work up quite the sweat. But for now, she picked her phone back up and put her earbuds back on. She had an Amethyst song to finish listening to first.

* * *

 _Note:_

 _Shizukani_ (静かに) _= "Be quiet"_

 _Tatami_ (畳) _= rearrangeable fabric-woven floor mats used for carpeting_

 _Hikikomori_ (ひきこもり) _= socially withdrawn (referring to a person)_


	3. Tokyo: Mayhem at Meiji Shrine

_Hi guys. Sorry for the long pause. I was just busy and creativity was running low. For this chapter, I originally planned on writing it for longer, but my inspiration was running dry at the time, so I had to finish it quickly._

 _Hope you enjoy._

* * *

Tokyo: Mayhem at Meiji Shrine

The night sky was rather starless for one that was broadcasted to be clear all week, at least one without clouds at all anyway. Despite the black overhead's blank look, Shibuya still had plenty to make up for in its own artificial lighting that held the district's glamor together. It was all part of what made it Tokyo's most recognizable area for tourism after all, so long as it didn't upset light pollution critics who worry about its adverts' bright and constantly shifting colors.

At the moment, things were quiet down at **Meiji Shrine** , which sat next to Yoyogi Park. Since it was night, there wasn't any real reason for many people to be visiting it…except, of course, for four teenage terrapin boys who had quietly snuck in without anyone else's knowledge. They all stood together in the courtyard while remaining a variable amount of inches apart at the same time.

"Are you sure it's somewhere around here?" Hoku spoke up as he moved his head around, scanning the entire courtyard across the stone flooring and the surrounding promenades.

"Well, my scanners aren't picking up the signal in any other location," replied Basho. He walked around in little circles while his eyes were glued down at the screen of the pad-like gadget he held with both hands. "All of Uzuki's sources clearly state that the sightings happened inside, near, or around Meiji Shrine, so there's not really a lot of room for doubts at this point."

Hoku lowered his head, contemplating on what to do next. While he was thinking, he got somewhat distracted by Hiro's and Mon's interactions behind him. "Gee, Hiro, will you stop fidgeting already? It's making me nervous!" Mon whined toward his red-masked elder brother.

Hiro wasn't paying attention, continuing to scuff at the stone-tiled pavement with his feet. "How can I stop?" he grumbled, "There's probably something big and mean out there in those woods terrorizing all the critters living here!" He looked away, feeling somewhat downcast and on edge at the same time. He lowered his voice, "I hope those poor foxes make it out all right."

"No worries, Hiro," Hoku cut in with a reassurance. "No one said anything like that's happened yet. If we hurry and find whatever it is, we won't have to worry about little critters getting hurt at all." He looked towards the front gate of the courtyard, peering as well as he could into the night-shaded woods on the other side. His eyes lingered for a bit, giving way to an uneasy expression forming on his face in the shape of a tight-lipped frown. _"At least I hope not…"_ he said to himself inaudibly.

The suspense, comprising of Hoku contemplating what might be lurking out in the woods and Mon trying to soothe Hiro's antsy mannerisms, was eventually broken by a positive ping coming from Basho's scanning device. "Hey guys," he called to his three brothers, "I think I just picked up something! It might actually be coming from somewhere in the shrine area itself!"

Getting to business, Hoku began going through the list of tasks he and his brothers had come to do. "Okay. Guys, Basho says he's on to something. Let's move." But before that could happen, Basho suddenly interrupted.

"Wait, the reading's suddenly stopping. Wait, now it's back! Is it in another spot now? It's moving again! It's just flashing…" Basho kept his eyes glued to the screen on his scanner. Looking back up, he looked left and right, scanning the immediate area with his own eyes. He looked back down to the screen and then back and forth from screen to reality. Having apparently been cross-referencing, Basho turned to look his brothers in the eye. "Guys, I think whatever we're looking for is just all over the place for some reason…" Seeing them raise an eye ridge, he clarified, "But I'm able to deduce that this thing is frequenting both the Treasure House to the north and the Inner Garden to the south. I'm still seeing blips in other areas, but it's mostly just those two."

Taking all this new information in, Hoku reevaluated the plan. "Alright, if that's the case," he spoke, "we'll have to split up." He pointed to his purple-masked brother. "Basho and I will go investigate the Inner Garden." He then pointed to both Hiro and Mon. "You guys check out the Treasure House."

"What?" came Mon's protesting cry. "You're sticking me with Hiro? Aw, c'mon!" That earned him a slap on the back of the head from the aforementioned brother.

"No complaining, Mon," Hoku responded to his youngest orange-masked brother's complaint. "You've been paired with Basho every time in the past and I'm sure you wanted a refresher from being called the B-Team."

"Oh, you got that right!" Basho exclaimed from behind.

"Well yeah, but not like this!" Mon cried. "Now I have to deal with Hiro's little antsy fidgets while listening to him talk about foxes. Ow!" He exclaimed again as Hiro whacked him a second time.

"Come on guys," Hoku sighed as he watched the little brief moment of discontent, "let's just try and get this done. The sooner we do, the sooner we can go home." With that, the red and orange-masked turtles put aside their differences and affirmed their task to their blue-masked leader brother with a nod. At that point, the pairs, both the red-orange and blue-purple ones, parted ways to explore the shrine grounds.

* * *

Mon and Hiro were making their way towards the rectangular and traditional Japanese-designed building with a red curved roof and white walls standing on thick stilts. It was evidently the **Meiji Shrine Treasure House** , home to the collection of mementos belonging to the late **Emperor Meiji** and **Empress Shōken**. While this fact did make it a wonder of Shibuya, the two turtle boys were not there to gawk.

"Well, I'm sure it can't be that bad, right?" Mon tried sheepishly to calm Hiro's nerves again. His red-masked elder brother said nothing, only keeping his eyes pointed down at the ground. Mon continued, "It's probably a stray cat, maybe a troll. Oh! Oh! Maybe it could be another mutant like us! Just imagine…" A cloudy thought bubble appeared over Mon's head in his mind: "A walking talking turtle, lost and alone, shivering in the dark while waiting for someone to rescue him, then along comes…"

"Mon, you're not helping," Hiro muttered. "We have no idea if we're dealing with something remotely friendly here." He didn't sound angry. Rather, he sounded a little bit fearful. "We don't even know what this 'thing' is, for crying out loud!"

Mon merely dropped his shoulders in response. "Gee Hiro, what's gotten you so worked up about this anyway? What makes you think the animals here are in danger? Do you…like them…or something?"

For a moment, Hiro said nothing, but then sighed before answering his little brother. "Well, I like to come here sometimes. It's mainly Yoyogi Park, but I do stop here when I feel like it. It's just the birds, the squirrels, and especially the foxes…I just can't help but give them a treat, play a game, and stuff…" When he heard no response from Mon, that got him agitated. "Hey, I like them, okay? You got a problem with me liking to talk to them?"

"Whoa, whoa, easy pal," Mon put up his hands in defense. "I didn't say I did, or anything. But, aw…" He began looking doe-eyed. "It's so adorable. I never knew you were so like that."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Know that well, little bro," and then stopped Mon to look him directly into his pale blue eyes, "and you better not brag about it to Basho and Hoku either." His own green eyes pierced into his little brother's soul. All he got was from Mon was a rapid nod.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hoku and Basho were surveying the **Inner Garden**. Weaving through the tall grasses, blooming irises, and the tall curtain-like trees that stood in abundance, both of them had to be careful not to become too enthralled in its beauty. They were busy with something else after all, namely trying to find the anomaly Basho had detected minutes earlier.

"Scanning," Basho quietly spoke, maintaining his concentration on what his device was showing him. "It's getting stronger somewhere around here."

"Good job. Just keep your eyes out," Hoku affirmed his purple-masked brother. The two turtles walked around for a bit with only the sounds of the greenery bristling in the wind to distract them from the tense silence. Hoku remembered a time when he would find his and his brothers' rat father frequenting the grounds of the shrine, where he would sometimes spend an hour or so just walking around in the garden, try to feed the koi swimming in the ponds, and then occasionally make a prayer at the offering hall. His other three brothers never quite seemed to understand why it was such a big deal to their sensei, but Hoku had a better idea from his observations plus knowing he had his reasons, so the turtle didn't need to think much on it.

"Okay, I'm picking up a faint reading," Basho broke the silence, "but now it's gone right back to the Treasure House again." He let his arms holding the tablet fall as he grumbled in exasperation, "Why? Why are you acting like this?" he groaned at his own invention, "I tuned you up so many times and you're still failing me!" He held up the device and shook it, getting desperate to find out why he wasn't getting any good results.

Hoku watched his brother fiddling with his invention and decided that he should cut the tension and ease him up a little. "Hey Basho, you really think we're dealing with something dangerous?"

Basho managed to relax his shoulders when he heard his eldest brother ask him. "Well, you never quite know for sure. We've only heard accounts from humans who actually got glimpses of what this 'thing' is, and none of them are clear. All we can count on right now is the source of the blips on my detector."

"Yeah, I know, but it's about Hiro's reaction that's got my attention," Hoku clarified. "No matter how exaggerated he might be, he's got a point about it being possibly dangerous to the life on the shrine grounds and the park. We might need to be prepared for that."

"Well yeah," said Basho, "but we're almost there anyway and…" He swung his head back to his scanner and moved it closer to his eyes as he suddenly found something else getting his attention. "Huh? That's strange. What's that huge energy signature doing here all of a sudden? It looks like it's coming from Kiyo –"

 _*WHOOSH*_

"Basho, look!" was Hoku's voice. The blue-masked turtle had grabbed Basho by the shoulder and yanked him closer to his own side before pointing towards a spot in the tall grasses and irises that had just whipped and rustled abruptly. "Something moved."

Basho looked back down at the screen of his scanner. Ignoring the large energy signature he had noticed before, he looked back at the tiny blip moving rapidly across the field of tall grass and flowers in front of them. "It's our target!" he exclaimed. "After it!"

The two both took off sprinting around that patch of vegetation – Hoku running into the greenery and circling around the thing's moving path and Basho racing across the gravel pathway in a similar curve – both were moving to intercept the thing rapidly moving in the shrubbery. Both of them ran closer and closer, eyes zeroed in on the moving trail of leaves, and then dove…right into each other, causing them both to elicit a cry of sudden pain.

 _"Itai,"_ Hoku hissed, rubbing his head that was sore from impact. Basho had been doing the same as well, only rubbing his plastron as well. But it didn't last long as he then found the blip still on the move.

"Hoku, it's heading north! We have to keep going!" Hoku didn't need to be told twice as he immediately hopped back on to his feet and resumed his sprint, Basho following close behind.

* * *

Hiro and Mon continued to walk around the Treasure House, weaving under the stilted walkways that stood behind the building. They had already tried the front door, but it was locked, and neither of them was in the mood to actually kick it down or break windows to force their way inside. It was a historical site after all, and if they did and the media caught wind of it, their sensei would catch wind of it and they would really be in trouble.

"You found where it's hiding yet?" Mon called out to Hiro loudly.

"No! In fact, I won't if you keep hollering like that!" Hiro yelled back sarcastically, not really understanding how his littlest brother never quite seemed to grasp the gravity of any situation he and his brothers were in. Shouldn't Mon be taking this search a little more seriously, knowing that everything depending on what the shrine grounds provided was at stake? Hiro honestly didn't know, and he didn't have the care to find out at that moment. He was pacing around the Treasure House building for the umpteenth time when he suddenly noticed a peculiar shape catch his eye from within the building's stilts underneath. He leaned down and narrowed his eyes, peering into the inky shadow. The little strange mass appeared to be covered in fur and had the appearance of something with four legs and a bushy appendage from behind. It looked kind of like… "A fox?" Hiro whispered. He slowly leaned forward under the building, prompting the foxlike shape to inch backwards. "Whoa, hey, it's okay," Hiro spoke softly, lifting a beckoning hand towards the creature. "What are you doing here, little guy? Here, don't be scared." He held his hand out a little longer. "It's okay. Come on out. I won't hurt you."

The fox didn't move for a bit, but then slowly took a wary step forward, quietly placing each paw a step ahead on the dusty soil while slowly coming towards the friendly turtle. As it got within inches of Hiro's hand, Hiro himself pushed his hand a little further to let it have a sniff. Its nose was just about touching Hiro's fingertips and then twitched as a whiff was taken. Hiro smiled at the feeling of the animal making those little puffs of air on his fingertips. He leaned forward to move his hand over its head to pet it, imagining how soft the animal's fur might be before it suddenly dashed to his side and away from him, scampering away. The surprise almost made Hiro fall over. The red-masked turtle could only have his eyes follow the creature to where it was headed, which was surprisingly towards Mon who stood on the other side of the Treasure House.

Hiro was quick to get back on his feet to chase the little animal to where Mon was. By the time he caught up, he expected Mon to be jumping around from the fox's sudden approaching skittering. Instead, he came to the sight of the fox rubbing itself around Mon's ankles contentedly while Mon was just looking down at it in jovial bemusement. "Aw, where'd you come from, little guy?" Mon asked the fuzzy mammal as it was busy warming up to him. Mon even leaned down to rub a hand on its furry head. "Man, you're so cute…and fuzzy too!"

Hiro narrowed his eyes at what he was seeing. He was the one extending a peaceful hand to the little guy and he gets repaid by that same creature going after his pesky little brother? He had nothing against either of them at the moment, but he wasn't going to let that slide. "Yeah, he sure is," Hiro spoke up as he went and leaned down to face the little fox which now turned its head to see him, "and you should know: I'm one with the animals." And with that, the fox completely turned to Hiro, leapt up…and clawed him in the face…multiple times. That whole time, Hiro was just speechless, still, and rather bug-eyed as he watched the fox's sudden display of aggression get written all over his face in the form of scratch marks on his cheeks and red mask. The fox went right back to cuddling with Mon's ankles.

"Gee, Hiro," Mon jibed as he looked at the fox, even giggling a little bit from the sensation of its fur, "you can't say something like that to someone you just met." But both the orange and red-masked turtles were interrupted by a sudden shouting voice, prompting them to swivel their heads in the direction of the source. Coming from the distant trees and across the stone pathways was Hoku and Basho, who appeared to be running at top speed as though they were giving chase.

Basho was pointing his thingamajig ahead of himself, however shakily he did so because he was running. No one knew what he was thinking until he shouted over his panting, "Guys! It's here! Catch it!" Mon and Hiro rapidly swung their heads down to look at the fox, whose ears also perked up at the purple turtle's loud words.

"Wait!" Hiro exclaimed at what he had just heard, pointing at the fox, "This little guy?" Not a moment after he said that, the fox jumped high up into the air and onto Hiro's chest, landing all four paws on his plastron before pushing itself off, sending him stumbling backwards. In an airborne arc, the fox bounced on and off of Mon's head and landed back onto the pavement before making its way back to the Treasure House. Already getting a glimpse of the fox's aggression, Mon turned to chase after the little furry creature, Hiro following close behind. The fox had already scampered near the stilted foundation of the building. Hiro and Mon were already directly chasing it, so Hoku and Basho tried their circling strategy again and went opposite directions around the building. Hiro and Mon charged at the creature until it was cornered in front of the front door on top of the steps. Hoku and Basho leaped onto the promenade from both ends of the building and rushed to surround the creature from all sides. The animal stopped in its tracks upon seeing all four turtles surrounding it before opting to slowly back away into the closed double doors, its ears and tail held down without a sound.

"All right," Basho exclaimed between pants, "We got you." He reached into a pack strapped on the back of his shell to pull out another gadget, which was most likely a contraption he had devised to lure, catch, and release the little critter before him as part of the plan. As Basho brought it out, he continued speaking gently to the creature like a trainer, "Easy now. We just need to scoop you up and bring you somewhere sa-" _*POOF*_

The fox interrupted the purple-masked turtle with a sudden leap in the air and with a somersault in mid-air, collapsed inwardly into a puff of blue luminescent smoke. The smoke dissipated immediately to reveal nothing. The suddenness of what had happened made all four turtles yelp, stumbling backward with one of them even falling onto his rump.

"What the-!?" Hiro immediately exclaimed, his eyes widened at the phenomenon he just witnessed. He turned his head upward at the sound of shuffling to see the same fox standing on the roof of the Treasure House looking down at him and his brothers.

"Did that fox just teleport?" Mon cried out in bewilderment, his hands clamped over his head. His question had no time to be answered as he followed the other three in jumps and wall-scrambles to the same rooftop. They took special care to land on said roof on their toes with delicate grace, being mindful to not excessively disturb the aged shingles that lined the surface. Mon decided that now was as good a time as any to makes his brothers more confident, "Okay, Basho. You were right. There is something weird about this fox. Let's grab it, guys!"

"Careful Mon," Hoku interjected, holding his stance ready, "If that fox can teleport, it might do it again if we get close. We can't just rush into this." The blue-masked turtle took his stance, his arms raised in anticipation to catch the fox before it teleported again. All four turtles stood on the shingles surrounding the fox. The fox stood silently, its back arched upward as it watched pensively with a piercing gaze. A few seconds of silence passed, then a little more, only the gentle breeze and rustling of the trees further beyond breaking the silence.

Then Hiro jumped. The fox teleported just as his hands touched its fur. It reappeared on one corner of the roof. Mon leaped through the air to avoid making noise and descended upon the animal. Said animal teleported again, leaving the orange-masked turtle to sail off the edge of the roof. Basho used his two brothers' attempts to watch for when the fox would teleport next, making sure to stay behind the animal with its back turned. Once that happened, he aimed a new device of his and with precise aim, pressed a button. A net shot out, opening rapidly to engulf the fox in a tailor-made mesh. The little mammal's eyes widened at the trap, scrambling wildly as the net surrounded its entire body.

"Hiro, help Basho!" Hoku immediately ordered, running over to his purple-masked turtle at the same time to secure the animal in the net. Hoku went to Basho's side and grabbed hold of the skinny part of the net in an attempt to further fasten it closed. Hiro encircled his hands over the fox that was still scrambling in the net, trying to hold it still to make Hoku's and Basho's jobs easier. But Hiro wasn't entirely comfortable with how the fox was trying desperately to escape; in fact, he was starting to feel quite bad.

"Hey, hey little guy," the red-masked turtle raised a hand warily while lifting the other hand to give the creature a gentle pat, "don't be scared. It's okay. We're not going to hurt you." Thankfully, his actions actually got the animal to slow down in its struggling, so Hiro was actually encouraged to pet it some more. _"Please don't scratch me again,"_ he whispered. He didn't notice that Mon was in the middle of climbing back up onto the shingled roof to rejoin his brothers. The fox, on the other hand, saw the little orange-masked turtle and began squirming in Hiro's hands. "Whoa, whoa! Hey! It's okay!" went Hiro's frantic calls again, trying to calm the little creature down again. But instead, the fox gave out a threatening hiss, making Hiro back away, falling onto his behind in the process. Thrashing against the net until the device attached to it was wrenched out of Basho's hands, the fox suddenly began glowing.

The fox's body was gradually being engulfed in a watery light, going over its fur and changing its colors. Once the light dissipated, the turtles were shocked to find the fox replaced by a completely different creature inside the net. It remained quadrupedal while covered with tangerine-yellow fur. Teal fur covered the top of its head, its spine, and the tip of its hairy tail. Its ears were bigger and a pair of outward-curling fangs poked out of its mouth. A red fur tuft sprouted on the chest area of its underbelly and its eyelids were also red, along with a red nose and a thin red stripe in the middle of the teal patch on top of its head.

The transformation was enough to make all four turtles yelp in surprise, and even more surprising was that the 'fox' teleported again and ended up back outside the net. The 'fox jumped right at Basho and seized his scanning device in its mouth, crushing it in its jaws until the little machine was sparking and in pieces. Scampering across the roof shingles, it then leapt right at Mon and knocked him off the edge of the roof, sending him fall down once again.

"D'AAAAHH! Not again!" Mon exclaimed, his voice muffled by the 'fox' on his face. The other three turtles rushed to the edge, looking over to see their littlest brother suddenly poofing in mid-air and reappearing on the stone-tiled courtyard at the bottom unharmed. The 'fox' nuzzled his face for a little bit before taking off back into the woods outside the shrine grounds.

Mon pulled himself back onto his feet as his three brothers jumped off the roof and landed behind him. Staring out into the woods, wide-eyed at what he just witnessed along with the fact that he landed from a rooftop with nary an impact, he blinked before turning back to face his brothers, a thumb pointed out towards the forest. "What did we just catch, Basho?"

"I'm not sure," was Basho's reply, "but this is more than just the stuff of rumor we're dealing with." He paced as he thought to himself what the creature might be.

"Can we still track it?" Hoku asked.

"Doubtful," Basho said, "since that thing broke my scanner, there's no way to find it now."

Hoku sighed, "Well, nothing we can do about it then. Why don't we go home?"

"Yeah, if you ask me, we should just forget it, leave it alone," Hiro interjected, feeling a little irritated by how the two were treating the whole thing. "That 'fox' won't hurt us, so it's none of our business."

"Aww," Mon batted his eyelids, grinning coyly.

"Hey, just so you know, I care about the animals," Hiro growled at his little brother's teasing.

"Yeah," Mon responded, "just as much as they care about you. They really like me, though." That got him chased by Hiro, the two racing back out the front gate of the shrine, the red-masked turtle angrily out to give Mon a turtle-wedgie.

Hoku rolled his eyes at the spectacle, so he and Basho decided to walk back to the lair behind their other two brothers. There wasn't much any of them could go on about the mysterious creature, so the journey back was mostly silent. Eventually, the silence was a little too unbearable, so Hoku looked to Basho. "Hey Basho, why do you think that 'fox'-thing was hanging around Meiji Shrine?"

Basho looked down contemplatively. "Well, I don't know if it's really the Meiji Shrine itself that's the fox-thing's deal here. It was pretty serious back at the Treasure House." He looked at Hoku. "If, and I mean 'if' it's anything like real foxes, it would be acting the way it was out of being territorial…so maybe…it's guarding something?"

Hoku shrugged his shoulders. That was a mystery best solved for another night.

* * *

 _On an additional note, when I'm writing the dialogue, I'm usually imagining the voice actors from the 2012-series's Japanese dub. (yes, that exists) For me, it's better, knowing the nature of the setting in which I'm writing this fic. Feels more natural, you know?_

Voices:  
Hoku (Leo) = **Tomokazu Seki** (関 智一)  
Hiro (Raph) = **Kentarou Itou** (伊藤 健太郎)  
Basho (Donnie) = **Hiroshi Tsuchida** (土田 大)  
Mon (Mikey) = **Kappei Yamaguchi** (山口 光雄)

Also: Uzuki (April) = **Arisa Shida** (志田 有彩)  
( _I'll add others in later chapters should they arise..._ )

 _*Bonus_ : Itai (いたい) = Ouch ( _expression of pain_ )

Remember, you can always let me know what you thought of it by leaving a review. Peace!


	4. Tokyo: Shibuya's Sewer Life

_I am so sorry for the wait. Work and school got in the way and I had thoughts of writing other adventures in later chapters. It's just that it had been 3 chapters already and I felt that this fic needed a lair-chapter sooner or later, otherwise it wouldn't be the same. I had a really hard time trying to figure out how to write this, which is another part of why I got really slow on updating. Hopefully, this won't be the case later, but fingers crossed._

 _Heads up on this chapter: Introducing a new character, and other additional facts about my fic-verse at the end at the chapter._

* * *

Tokyo: Shibuya's Sewer Life

Down in the tunneled depths of **Shibuya,** among the dark and dimly lit subway lines that interconnected like layers upon layers of spider webs, a spacious niche of concrete chambers sat nestled within the shadows. It was designed to be rather simple, being composed of square or rectangular rooms that stood about seven feet in height. They appeared to be arranged in almost a ring-like fashion, only that it wasn't so much circular as it involved rooms connected to the outside of a hallway, which itself encircled a much wider room in the center. At every side in the room-laden bordered hallway, there was at least one room that was wider than others, though nowhere near as wide as the main room in the center within the square hall. That main room sat at least a yard lower than the rooms surrounding it. It only remained connected via the four modestly sized sets of stairs that extended downwardly from each narrow path making up the outer square. As if the layout was not complicated enough, that same atrium was surrounded by its own dividers. They weren't walls as they didn't reach all the way up to the ceiling, but only were about a yard tall, only high enough that one had to grab at the edge and launch themselves up with both a pull and a little leap in order to take a peak over to the other side.

"Hah! I win again!" cried out a youthful boyish voice. The source of the cry came from a boyish orange-masked turtle, one who sat down cross-legged while raising his arms up in the air, his hands balled up in pumped fists of victory. A disgruntled growl came from the other red-masked turtle facing him. He was lying down on his belly, his arms clenched in fists that shook with irritation. His green eyes were furrowed and held a piercing glare at the pile of cards that lied on the cold concrete he and his little brother were on. The orange-masked turtle reveled in his energy rush, "Looks like I'm still the King of the Cards, Hiro!"

Hiro, the red-masked turtle, could only slap the cards he held in his hand down hard on the hard floor. "Well, I still think you're the dirtiest 'King of the Cards' to date!" he exclaimed. He pointed a finger at his little brother's face right between the eyes. "One day, I'll expose you for your treacherous tricks, Mon!"

Mon only drooped his eyelids smugly while inching himself closer to Hiro's face. "Oh, I'd never betray the art of card-bushido. I'm just naturally that way." Mon went further to push a fingertip on Hiro's forehead, prompting the hot-blooded turtle to tremble as he built up steam as Mon continued his spiel, "Face it, Hiro – in the Card Province, I'm Yoshitsune and you're Yoritomo."

"That's it!" Hiro growled in his mind. But before he could go further with his thought, he detected Mon's eyes suddenly widening while looking back down at the card pile.

"Hey! That's my lucky draw! Give those back!" Mon exclaimed diving for the bunch of cards that he put down which were currently being nibbled on by a smaller brown-shelled box turtle. Mon only managed to snatch back two of the cards before the tiny turtle began crawling off with the other three still in its mouth. The sight of that made Hiro change from growling to chuckling, taking entertainment in his little pet turtle giving his little brother difficulty. Mon scrambled after the turtle and managed to grab at one card still in the little turtle's mouth, but ended up wrestling with said turtle for the card. The little turtle slipped away and out of Mon's grasp and kept crawling.

"Great job, Spike," Hiro silently congratulated his little pet.

* * *

Meanwhile in a bricked garage, a purple-masked turtle was wearing goggles and holding a welder while working on a machine. It had been a while since he began placing, drilling, and now welding several parts together in his quest to build a new invention. Once he had finished, he lifted his goggles off his eyes and let out a sigh of relief at what he had built.

"Phew! Okay then, all joints are together, motherboard's secured, energy routers and re-routers are connected, and outer plating melted in place." He followed the set of cables attached to the device all the way to a generator with a big switch on it. "Time for a test run."

"Uh, Basho?" a hesitant female voice cut the air, "I'm all for seeing your latest invention, but I don't really get why I'm being involved in this test right now." The girl with her yellow and black shirt, light grey hoodie, blue denim jeans, and black sneakers, sat on a swivel chair with another piece of the mysterious device on her head. The bottom tips of her light-tinted and pigtailed hair were tucked away under the collar area of her hoodie.

"No worries, Uzuki," said Basho, the purple-masked turtle. "I'm just testing out my custom-made infiltration console." He typed away at a nearby laptop. "If my calculations are correct, it should be able to function effectively as a remote control for drones and probes we can use to spy on the Kraang and other criminal operations."

"So, you're building this because you want to sneak into **TCRI,** right?" was Uzuki's suspicious questioning.

"Well," Basho answered hesitantly, "that, and I'm looking for other ways to improvise on our ninja approaches." He then moved to the switch on the main console of his device. "Okay, turning on the central unit in three, two, one…" He pulled the switch. The machine hummed as a pink light began brightening on some of its glassy parts. Seeing the piece held up by Uzuki's head light up too, he then spoke to her, "Hey Uzuki, can you try thinking of a command?"

Uzuki sat, ruminating on what kind of command Basho wanted her to think of. Looking at the bipedal turtle-like robot before her, she closed her eyes and then tried to formulate a message to send through the remote-controlling headgear. "Go." The robot took a left step forward, then a right step, alternating continuously so that it now began walking towards Uzuki herself. Seeing the robot beginning to get close to her, she let out another command. "Stop." The robot, instead of obeying her, kept walking in her direction. "Stop," Uzuki repeated herself, but the robot stayed in motion. "Stop!" Uzuki exclaimed frantically, shuffling backwards off the chair she was sitting on to put further distance between herself and the machine. The abruptness of having to back away caused her to fall to the concrete floor on her backside, and Basho scrambled to try and stop the robot from walking over his human friend, the noisy clattering of equipment drowning the atmosphere of the garage.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a room that appeared bigger and taller than the others and decorated with vibrant-colored carpets and mats with traditional Japanese wall decorations, Hoku the blue-masked turtle was quickly moving between stances of various forms and postures, maintaining his current position below the canopy of the tree that stood behind him under the light of a sewer grate up above. One leg up, then down with another leg up, arms bent up one way, an arm bent down another way, and so on. He was only practicing his katas, having nothing better to do. Of course, he could join his brothers with whatever fun things they were doing, but he just wanted to get his practice done first. He was going through a few more sequential forms when he heard a deep older voice jolt him out of his concentration.

"Hokusai"

He turned around to find himself facing the tall and authoritative figure of his father walking towards him, a bipedal brown rat mutant wearing a dark red floral pattered kimono with a green jade cane in his right hand. Hoku immediately stood up straight and bowed in respect. "Sensei," was his quick and curt response, being as polite to his father as ever. He maintained that pose even when his rat father had stood right in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The rat man, who stood tall and imposing with one arm firmly holding his staff and the other held towards his turtle son, gave a gentle smile that was both out of pride and exhaustion.

"My son, you have been training for some time now," he spoke to Hoku, his tone of voice deep and reverberating yet calming and without aggression, "You have already practiced the forms enough times. It is about time you take a rest."

"I understand, Sensei," Hoku said, "I just feel like there's something missing every time I demonstrate it to myself. I'm only repeating it to make sure it's exactly the way you taught it to me." He looked up slightly to look Sensei in the eye.

"Hokusai," Sensei spoke further, "You spend so much time trying to do something perfectly when there are other aspects you could give attention to as well." He turned and walked to the side to look at a painting that seemed part Ukiyo-e and part European-styled Art Deco, a name scribbled ' **Michiru Hiruta** ' (昼田 満ちる) at the bottom corner. "Be careful not to put too much energy and strength into your fights. Otherwise, you will have none left when it is time to recover."

Hoku did not seem to understand why his master and father was saying this. "Sensei?"

Sensei turned back to look at his eldest son. "Your brothers are out there enjoying life and making memories, but they are missing you from the experience. Why don't you rest and have fun with them for a while?" He gestured to the outside of the training dojo with a motion of his head.

Hoku looked out in the same direction Sensei had motioned towards. In the main atrium of the lair, he saw Mon and Hiro fooling around with playing cards. He saw Uzuki peering over Basho's shoulder as he fiddled away at a robot part. He looked back to the dojo; apart from Sensei, he was training by himself, and he remembered that he seemed to do that almost every time they finished a patrol or a mission recently. He justified it to himself as being prepared in case threats come back stronger and smarter, given him and his brothers' tendencies to pull tricks on their enemies. On the other hand, maybe it was just a side effect of exposure to Tokyo surface culture – one could never be 'good for now,' as work, progress, and improvement advanced no matter how long or still one sat. Hoku personally couldn't find a reason to take a break when he knew evil never did. In fact, part of him remembered Sensei sharing how he empathized with how most humans living in Japan took top priority with their innovations, considering they were all living on an island that often bore the brunt of the Earth's restlessness.

But as Sensei had also mentioned, there did come a time when a period of calm inevitably happened between the storms and one ought to make the most of it during that time, regathering enough strength to weather the next storm that comes their way. Knowing that he needs his brothers as much as they need him, Hoku sighed. Maybe it's time he settled down a bit. "Alright," he looked back up at his taller rat father, "I guess I should spend time with them. It'd probably be a good chance to reflect on my techniques anyways. _Arigatou-gozaimasu_ , Sensei." He then turned to leave for the lair atrium, though not before stopping without turning around to hear Sensei tell him one last thing:

"Remember, Hokusai. Even a Kappa can get carried away by the river."

Hoku stood for a moment after hearing what his father said and then turned back to leave, calling out to Mon and Hiro in the middle of their antics while sensing Basho and Uzuki watching entertainingly from the other side.

* * *

 _Introducing Master Splinter, who goes by **'Sensei'** here. In the 2012-cartoon's Japanese dub, he's voiced by **Takayuki Sugou**_ (菅生 隆之).

 **Other Fun Facts:**

The Lair is located in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo. Where exactly, I'll leave that to your imagination.

The training dojo looks exactly like the one in the 2012-show, with the exception of the Ukiyo-e/European Art Deco painting hung on the wall.

 **TCRI** is still a New York-based corporation in this fic. Its main/original HQ is in Brooklyn, but has expanded internationally. Uzuki mentions TCRI's Tokyo branch, which will still have Kraang activity. I decided to place it somewhere in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward.

 **Spike,** Raph's (or rather Hiro's) pet turtle, is still called Spike here (スパイク). Just a nod to the prevalence of Japan's westernized influences.

 **Bushido** (武士道) means "the way of warriors." It's a collective term for ideals and honor codes making up the samurai way. It's like Europe's concept of chivalry.

 **Yoshitsune** (源 義経) was a military commander of the Minamoto Clan between the end of the Heian Period and into the Kamakura Period. He is considered one of the greatest and most popular warriors of his time, along with being one of the most famous samurai warriors in Japanese history ever.

 **Yoritomo** (源 頼朝) was the founder and first leader of the Kamakura Shogunate, which was the first military government to take control of Japan in the feudal era. He is also the half-brother of Yoshitsune, being a member of the Minamoto Clan. He was assisted by Yoshitsune in taking power and establishing his rule.

The name " _Michiru Hiruta_ " (昼田 満ちる) is one I created based off the real life painter **Ichiro Tsuruta** (鶴田 一郎) who's famous for his painting style which combines Japanese Ukiyo-e with European Art Deco.

 **"Even a Kappa can get carried away by the river"** (河童も川流れ - _kappa mo kawa nagare_ ) is a Japanese proverb that effectively means "anyone can make mistakes, even experts," also as warning similar to "pride comes before a fall." It's a variation of a more well-known proverb that has the same message, **"Even monkeys fall from trees"**. (猿も木から落ちる - _saru mo ki kara ochiru_ )

 _"Arigatou-gozaimasu"_ = "Thank you very much" (alternative short form: _"Arigatou"_ = "Thank you")


	5. Tokyo: Shinobi Rock Night

Tokyo: Shinobi Rock Night

It was one of Tokyo's liveliest nights of the year down at **Tokyo Bay** , particularly in **Tokyo Waterfront City**.

Standing within said waterfront city's **Ariake-Minami** district was the towering Conference Tower identifying **Tokyo Big Sight** , or **Tokyo International Exhibition Center** as it is officially known as. Bathed in multicolored spotlights and detailed projections pointed upward at it, this building consisting of four inverted pyramids resting together on four shiny windowed buildings was effectively a construction marvel out on the maritime area. Considering that it was built so far out over the waters of Tokyo Bay made the wonder surrounding it even more mystifying.

In fact, aside from the lights of many colors decorating the **Conference Tower** , there were just as many crowds of people gathered inside the building itself. The voices of everyone present were loud enough that others from outside and further away could sense their cheering. It was tonight that a big-name singer was present to commence with a concert performance that was guaranteed to rattle the heavens and the earth.

The concert had not officially begun yet, but unbeknownst to everyone at the moment, there was another main event taking place further up above. Up on the sky-deck of the Conference Tower, four turtles were surrounded by a number of hostile human men, all of whom were wearing black with traces of purple in them along with purple tattoos on their exposed skin. Every single person present was carrying a weapon. Every man was actively charging at the turtles, hoping to land a hit. But the turtles were predictably knocking each of them away as well as down. The gangsters had absolutely no chance against warriors of a formal martial arts training.

"Hah! Score another one for the team!" Mon whooped as he delivered another jump kick to another attacking human.

"Looks like hard mode's still quite a ways away!" Hiro yelled back, seconding his little brother's opinion. Initially, it looked like he didn't notice a gangster with a pipe charging behind him. But right as the man swung the pipe down at Hiro's head, the red-masked turtle spun around and crouched to deliver an elbow to the man's midsection, sending him flying in hysterical pain.

Basho wasn't even trying to break a sweat as he shuffled in a curve while facing another gangster. Said gangster was wielding a military knife, keeping a crunched glare directed at the purple-masked turtle. "Come on now, do something," Basho taunted in a semi-exasperated tone, "you're boring me." That made the man's scowl even deeper. Deciding that his mutant foe was not going to make a move any time soon, the knife-wielding gangster leapt forward into a sprint towards his target. Basho made a flicking motion of his hand which held his wooden Bo staff, sending the end of the weapon spinning upward right into the man's chin. A few seconds after the man was knocked to the ground, the man threw his knife at the turtle's face, only for the knife to end up embedded in the mutant's staff instead. "Points for trying," Basho quipped before landing a final strike with his staff.

Meanwhile, Hoku was occupied with who appeared to be the apparent gang leader accompanied by a couple of goons. The leader looked distinguished from the rest of the men, wearing only an open vest over his exposed upper half. "Last chance," Hoku warned, keeping his strong and even tone, "Leave now and we can both go home without a scratch."

"Yeah right," the leader retorted back. "You guys are the only reason we're doing this tonight! We're not leaving without giving your shells a smackdown!" He then reached behind his own back and pulled out a katana, one that appeared a little shorter than the ones Hoku was wielding. Hoku kept his concentrated gaze focused on the armed gangster, who in turn, glared right back. The man then flicked his katana and ran straight at the blue-masked turtle with a loud yell. Hoku waited for his foe's katana to come swinging down on him before blocking the strike with one of his own, then using his other katana to come at the side to knock the enemy weapon away. Normally, such a move would send the enemy's weapon flying out of their hands, disarming them, but the gang leader managed to hold on to his sword. Rebounding, the gangster swung his sword at another angle, but was once again blocked by Hoku's blades. The two parried of each other for a bit longer, with the gang leader only managing to score a lucky hit on Hoku's leg by means of a crouched spin kick. But all that managed to was stagger Hoku a bit rather than knock him over. Another swing from the gang leader prompted the turtle to jump and flip midair and land behind his enemy. The gang leader threw himself around to face the turtle again, having held out his katana in hopes of getting a cut on his opponent in the process. Hoku ducked down to avoid the gangster's next swing and did a kick of his own into the guy's belly. The impact sent the gang leader staggering backwards and bent forward, clutching his belly in suckled pain.

"Had enough yet?" Hoku called out to the pained man.

"Keep dreaming!" the gang leader spat, standing up straight again and pointing the tip of his katana at the turtle. He approached Hoku, opting to walk instead of run to conserve his energy. When he got close enough, he whipped his katana forward again, anticipating the mutant turtle blocking his strikes. Another shorter series of blocks and parries dinged across the night air as the two continued to exchange sword strikes again, that was until the gangster attempted to thrust his katana forward in a stab-motion at the turtle's chest area on his plastron. Hoku blocked the strike by catching the blade with his own two swords in an x-formation, slowing it down using the friction until the offending tip came to a halt. Both sides – the turtle and gang leader – seeing that the latter was officially stuck, the turtle thrust his swords to one side and took the other shorter sword with them, sending said shorter sword flying out of the human's hands and landing tip first on the cement floor, embedding itself in the concrete quite a distance away from its former bearer.

The gang leader, seeing his weapon now out of his reach, slowly turned his head back to face the turtle mutant, who still held the same steely gaze as when they first started fighting. His face held a hardened expression of slight shock and outrage, but whatever thoughts he had at the moment were interrupted by the tip of a katana held up very close to his face and right between the eyes.

Hoku stayed silent as he watched the human freeze in disbelief. Waiting a little longer to see if he'd act, Hoku then spoke once more, "I'm giving you another chance. If I were you, I'd take it now."

The gangster leader stared down the other turtle for a moment, and upon seeing that he wasn't going to give him any room or time to get his weapon back any moment sooner, he huffed, dropping his arms and relaxing his shoulders. He turned to look at his other comrades, some downed and others still trying to put up a fight. "Shiryu!" he yelled out to all his fellows. "Retreat and regroup! We're leaving!"

All the other black and purple-clothed gangsters, apparently known as the **Shiryu** collectively, gathered themselves and began following their leader away from the turtle brothers, making their way to leave Tokyo Big Sight. The awareness that they were now home free settled in, the turtles now stretching out the muscles in their limbs in a first effort to relax.

"Ah, finally we got that out of the way." Mon grinned, his arms stretched up in the air. "I can already hear the beats from out here!"

"It better not have started already!" Hiro eyed the colorful lights reflecting from under one of the glass ceilings. "If we get there and find out we missed the opener, I'm going after the **Shiryu Clan** myself!"

"Easy now, Hiro," Hoku tried to soothe his brother's growing temper. "The Shiryu guys only showed up over an hour after we got here. Just be glad Basho gave us the sensible choice to get here early enough to find a spot." He then turned to Basho. "How much time did we use up?"

Basho looked down at a watch-like gadget on his wrist. "Hm, judging by the time we got to the Big Sight, it looks like we only laid the beatdown on the Shiryu for about 45 minutes. For us to get back to our spot before the concert starts, that would leave us about – "

"3 MINUTES!?" came Mon's sudden wide-eyed cry of terror, blasting right behind Basho as Mon forced his way past his older purple-masked brother's head with a push to get a closer look at the watch. "WE ONLY GOT 3 MINUTES ' TIL IT STARTS WITHOUT US!? GUYS, WE GOTTA GO!"

* * *

Right at the edge of a pool-sized skylight, the four turtle brothers were seated, looking down to get an entire view of the concert hall down below. Ahead of their field of vision was the stage itself, decorated with banners in front of a solid black backdrop, band equipment with cables strewn about the back of the stage while attached to said instruments, and powerful lights hanging attached to the metallic frames outlining the stage's front side. Standing before the stage was a crowd of people so numerous and densely packed that they almost could be mistaken for a sea of sesame seeds, and they were yelling and cheering loudly.

"Here she comes," Mon squeaked quietly with his fists pumped in front of him, "So glad we got here with a minute left."

The cheers from the crowded human audience got louder as the hall's surrounding lights darkened. The lights hanging from the stage frame shone even brighter as the beams were focused directly on the band area. The amp speakers accompanying the stage platform bellowed away more intense bass beats. A silhouette of a human woman, looking like she was close to her mid-20's, steadily walked from one side of the stage to the center with intense grace. The crowd, upon seeing her, began to chant her name, even accompanied discreetly by the four turtles standing above and outside the area from the other side of the glass skylight:

" _Amethyst! Amethyst! Amethyst! Amethyst! Amethyst! Amethyst! Amethyst! Amethyst!_ "

The woman stopped at the center of the stage and turned to face her audience, lifting up one hand to grasp the microphone attached to the pole stand below. Her head was slightly tilted down forward, in a relaxed state as part of soaking in the energy of the crowd. As the crowd continued to chant, she slowly lifted her head up, the stage lights began to move, and the sound began to pick up as other band members behind her took up their instruments. She then looked out directly and spoke:

"Well, what do we have here? Looks like all of Tokyo wants to see us tonight!" The crowd cheered even louder. The band behind her began to play, starting with a steady and rapid fade in from quiet to an explosion of loud jams of electric guitars, bass drums, and cymbals. She continued with a raised voice, "Well, the more there are, the more we'll have to give it our all!" Raising up a fist, she called out to everyone in words of American English in an accent that denoted her speaking in katakana, " _Āyūredi_?" ( _Are you ready?_ )

The crowd, plus the turtles, yelled a positive affirmation in response. In turn, the woman known as **Amethyst** got into a ready stance at the same time the band just finished jamming out their song's intro and then began to sing:

~ _Na na na na na na na na na na, Na na na na na na na na na na_ ~

It was at that point that the spotlights finally shone upon her, revealing her in her electric glory – she wore all black with some patterns and streaks of pink and purple to match her pure raven black and shoulder-length hair: black pants that wrapped tightly around her thighs and opened up around her shins like flower petals with pink and purple on the bottom edges, an open short-sleeved black jacket that revealed a tight black tank top underneath that had pink and purple patterns arranged like a flower of a psychedelic design, and black mesh wrapped around her forearms.

Everyone was jumping up and down, waving their arms as they moved to the beat of the drums and rhythm of the opening lines Amethyst sang. She even leaned forward a bit to make herself seem closer to her audience.

~ _Na na na na na na na na, Na na na na na na na na_ ~

At the same time the crowd danced to her voice and powerful band music, the turtles were also moving to the rhythm up above, though more significantly subdued. Most of their movements were limited to gently bobbing up and down on their legs that were bent down in a crouched position, along with moving their shoulders and balled up hands as though they were waving imaginary glowsticks.

~ _Ukiyo wa yume shibai, kyoei de kaku mo tanoshiki_ ~  
~ _Shosen wa aiirenu, hito no - kage ni - magirete ikiru_ ~

Amethyst was moving side to side as she also danced to the music and her own singing, letting everyone know that she was into the energy of the concert as well and showing that she was having just as much fun and passion as her fans were.

~ _Sonna kimochi tasogarete, akatsuki iro somatteku_ ~  
~ _Sore demo terasu to shinjite mitsukeru myoujou_ ~  
~ _Warera, kegare naki sui musou_ ~  
~ _Doko e yuku, doko e yuku_ ~

Mon couldn't help himself as he watched and had already got onto his feet to start jumping up and down with both his hands in the air. He also wasn't bothering to keep his voice in a whisper anymore. Hoku looked to his side to notice Mon's increasing energy, but gave a little smile before looking back down at the concert hall. Hiro's fist waves were getting a little more energetic, though he didn't get up like Mon did but rather just began lightly bumping them on the glass. Basho continued to steadily enjoy himself the way he started out when the music began, but held a finger and a thumb on a tiny chip-like gadget attached to his purple bandana on one side of his head, apparently recording the event with his brothers' reactions on it.

~ _Kenage ni machi no katasumi ni boukyaku no ichirin no hana ga saite iru_ ~  
~ _Na mo naki sono sugata wa maru de hora shousei no you dakedo_ ~

~ _Dareka no nageku koe ga suru, makeru na hora sugu iku kara_ ~  
~ _Taiji shite - taiji shite, yami wo terasu, warera no chishio_ ~

~ _Hitohira no monogatari, iku mo ikanu mo kimi shidai_ ~  
~ _Sakimidarete misemashou, nin no ichiji, mune ni kizande_ ~

Once Amethyst finished singing and the music stopped, leaving only faint echoes reverberating back and forth along the walls of the now silent concert hall, the crowd once again filled the air with their erupted roaring cheers of ecstatic energy, giving praise to their singer.

Up above, Basho pressed his chip-like camera again to stop recording and accompanied Hoku in observing Mon and Hiro releasing a little more unused energy after enjoying themselves to Amethyst's power song.

"Man, that song was so great! Isn't she amazing, guys?" Mon sighed dreamily.

"Told you guys she's top notch rock singer of all time!" Hiro added, "And she's not even a teen idol, to boot!"

Hoku nodded. Though not usually as devotedly receptive to his hot-blooded brother's tastes as one would initially assume, he did admit to himself that said brother did make admirable choices in acquiring said tastes. "Yeah, Hiro, I know. She's totally mature and relevant for a rock singer and that matches us just fine."

"Well, don't call it quits yet," Basho interjected after properly saving the video file he had just recorded. "We've only heard the concert's first song and there's plenty more to get to." He then clicked his recorder again. "Are you ready?"

"Back at it, bro!" was Mon's answer.

* * *

 _*Did you know that the 2012-series's Japanese dub has its own opening theme song? It's called **Shinobi** \- performed by the band **GReeeeN**._

 _I think this is the first chapter I've written involving an explicit fight scene between the turtle bros and some baddies of theirs. The baddies of this chapter, the **Shiryu Clan**_ _, are my Tokyo-counterparts to the **Purple Dragons** ; their name literally comes from the words 'purple' _(紫) _and 'dragon'_ (龍) _, though it also sounds synonymous with the words 'death'_ (死) _and 'dragon'_ (龍). _They're also affiliated with the yakuza residing in Tokyo. So, ninja turtles fighting yakuza - how about that for a first fight?_

 _This chapter also introduces my OC, **Amethyst**_ (アメジスト). _While I've already written one other OC, Uzuki, it was more of a counterpart/equivalent to a pre-existing character, who in this case is April O'Neil. The same could be said for me writing Shiryu Clan yakuza as a stand-in for the Purple Dragons. Amethyst, on the other hand, came entirely from me. Additionally, the name Amethyst is a stage name, but I'll reveal her real name in the future. If you need an idea of what her normal + singing voice might sound like, I'd personally go with either Wakana Ootaki, Yuriko Kaida, Keiko Kubota, or Kaori Oda._

Tidbit:  
 _ **Tokyo Big Sight** \- aka **Tokyo National Exhibition Center** \- is a convention and exhibition center located in Tokyo's Ariake-Minami district out on Tokyo Bay. It's most recognizable for its Conference Tower, which involves inverted/upside-down pyramids in its design. Out of all of the convention and exhibition centers in Japan, it's the biggest._

 _As always, feel free to comment or review. Any words of yours, constructive criticism or simple observation, helps._ :-)


	6. Tokyo: Kuroe of Harajuku

_I am so very sorry for taking so long to do this chapter. My inspiration ran dry when I finished around a quarter of the writing and I couldn't figure out how to keep going with it. It was only until recently, thanks to those who gave new reviews, when I finally found enough juice to finally finish this for real. I may or may not have another chapter planned after this one, but I might consider writing another fic project along the side to fill in the time while I figure out what to write next for this one._

 _I will let you know that for this chapter, it is still a oneshot like the ones before it, but plotwise, this is where I decided to "get on with it", so to speak. Enjoy._

* * *

 **Tokyo: Kuroe of Harajuku**

It was a warm and slightly humid night down at the fashion district of **Harajuku**. Being during the active Sunday hours in which most youths living in Shibuya are out having fun, it's extremely rare that someone like Hamato Hokusai would be away from the lair by himself, even if he stayed in the sewer tunnels below the surface going around just for a brief scouting.

Peeking from below a manhole cover situated in a narrow alleyway, Hoku scanned left and right for anyone, even briefly focusing his attention on the throngs of people who were passing by left and right at both ends of the alley. He could catch glimpses of the colorful neon decorations and merchandise occupying the people-filled areas of the streets. A good number of its young humans were garbed in either cosplay or distinct genre fashions that one would normally see in a magazine, not limited to Gothic Lolita, Aristocrat, and Rockabillies. Hoku, seeing that nothing out of the ordinary was occurring right now, thought so far so good.

That was, until he felt the manhole cover slam down abruptly over his head. The suddenness of it almost made the turtle yelp in pained surprise. Looking back up at the manhole cover for a moment, the turtle slowly and carefully pushed it back up again, peering back out to see a bunch of teenagers walking away from where he stood. "Okay, so they didn't notice me," Hoku thought to himself, though silently grumbling on the inside while rubbing the sore spot on his head, "but did they have to walk over my hiding spot?"

After lingering for a bit longer to check for any more humans passing by, he carefully slid the manhole cover aside and leapt out, landing soundlessly on his toes while putting the manhole cover back in its place. He took shelter behind a disposal bin in an effort to blend in with the shadow cast by said bin. He carefully timed the way the wildly dressed human teens looked at every spot in the Harajuku streets and the angles of which he would jump upwards between the two buildings making up the dark alley. As soon as he sensed that enough heads have been turned away from his direction, he made his first running jump and bounced between the two walls, zigzagging until he reached the top of one of them.

Taking a moment to relax, Hoku looked down at the brightly and colorfully lit streets. He currently was surveying one of Harajuku's brightly colored and lit streets, particularly one that had a few buildings designed like they were from Western Europe or Northwest Africa but was still predominantly sleek and cyber-futuristic, evident by the tall handlebar streetlamps. As he watched the youths down below dressed in their exotic costumes, he wondered if he and his brothers could fit in there, if they could all be passed off as normal and exciting to look at, at least with the impression of being in costume. But then again, it's not as though Harajuku life was a costume party. If anything, it was mostly a fashion show, and Hoku was sure that he and his brothers would still stick out even if claiming to wear masks. Hoku shook his head, dispelling any of these musings he had about joining the human populace. He turned to survey the network of rooftops he was standing on, catching a glimpse of the rest of the Shibuya skyline. In the distance, he could make out the trees of Yoyogi Park along with a few shingled roofs of Meiji Shrine. He opted to navigate more of Harajuku by jumping across a few more rooftops, making sure not to stray too close to the wide open boundary between the neighborhood and Yoyogi Park. He managed to survey another block when he stopped moving, standing still and making no noise, save for the tails of his mask fluttering in the breeze. In a split second, he whipped his body around to look at the environment behind him, finding nothing but antennas and ventilation fans on rough surfaces. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary so far, Hoku turned back to do some more surveying of Harajuku. But at another rooftop, he stopped and stood again, trying to listen for something out of the ordinary.

"Who's there?" he called out loud. Based on his honed senses, he could tell that he wasn't alone. But there was no answer to his call. Warily, Hoku slowly reached one hand behind him to grasp the katana hilted on his shell. He slowly treaded towards a nearby ventilation turbine, deducing it as the spot where he sensed the disturbance. Taking one more moment to prepare himself, Hoku tightened his grip on the katana and did a brief sprint around the thin-plated cube until he was behind it. Behind the ventilator, he found…nothing.

Hoku let out a breath and closed his eyes, relaxing his arms. He stood up straight again…then turned around to pounce upon the person standing behind him, making that person slam onto the rooftop surface on their back with the turtle pinning them down in place by both their arms.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" Hoku demanded to the person under him.

"Ow! Hey! Get off!" the voice of a teenage girl came from the pinned human figure. "I'm not following anyone!" The sound of her voice made Hoku soften his hold on her. He backed away rapidly, allowing the girl to right herself, shuffling with her hands to sit up straight. As he narrowed his eyes to adjust them to the surrounding darkness, he could make out the outline of a female teen.

She appeared to have black hair that was very short, save for two long bangs hanging from either side of her head. The bottom of her hair behind her head was dyed yellow. Her face possessed rather sharp features, including angular eyes, a streamlined nose, and a pointed chin. Her lips were of a deep red, indicative of the use of lipstick. Her light-brown eyes were surrounded with black eyeliner and had red double-pronged eyeshadow above the lids. She had a single small earring on both ears, one on her left earlobe and the other on her right ear flap. For her attire, she wore a zipped-up black jacket that had brown patchwork and tiny spikes along the shoulders and upper arms, as well as dirty blue jeans that were roomy instead of tight-fitting with the bottom hems being folded up. Underneath her jacket was a simple dark red shirt. There were buttons and pins decorating the top of her jacket. She wore black fingerless gloves and black running shoes.

Hoku took a brief moment to look her over, unsure of what exactly the kind of person he was dealing with. She seemed rather punk-ish, the kind that one would expect to see in a biker gang. Other case scenario, she could be a random rockabilly. Before he got a chance to speak first, the teen girl's eyes made contact with the turtle's figure, instantly widening the moment she got a good look at him in the dark.

"What the – a turtle?" she gasped, moving back a little. Her reaction made Hoku wince; it wasn't quite what he expected, but he thought as much when yet faced with a human recoiling at seeing what he was for the first time. Not wanting to wait around for her to leave and start blabbing about his presence in front of every person in Harajuku, whether to reveal his secret or get herself admitted into a psychiatric ward, he went right to using his powers of persuasion.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Hoku raised his hands slowly and gently, even backing away a little himself. "I know it looks a little weird, but I don't mean you any harm."

The girl, still stunned from what she saw, shook her head to further try to clear her mind. "Whoa, hold on! There's a talking turtle right in front of me that just tackled me and is now telling me to calm down. Did somebody open some kind of portal and start a demon invasion? Am I dealing with some radioactive dinosaur? Or…or…" She looked back up at Hoku, who was starting to look a bit uneasy towards her stifled panicking. "Nice getup? What are you supposed to be?"

"Relax, I'm a turtle – wait!" Hoku exclaimed, pointing to himself. "Are you assuming this is a costume? Do I really look like something a person would be caught dead wearing?" The abruptness of his change in tone only confused the girl more. He realized that his behavior wasn't really helping right now. "I mean, I've seen plenty of ridiculous looks in Harajuku, but I'm not one of them."

The girl did not say anything. The prolonged silence was making Hoku feel rather uncomfortable. "Please," he implored the girl again, now having clasped his hands together in a solemnly polite sort of begging, "Yes, I'm a walking talking turtle and that's not normal for you. But I'm very much just trying to live in Tokyo just like you and everyone else. I know this is still a little much for you, but can you promise you won't tell anyone you saw me?"

The girl stared for a moment, and then slowly, carefully, and warily pushed herself off the gravel and back onto her feet. As she did that, she watched Hoku do the same, following her movements. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay," she sighed in cathartic release, "You seem nice, so I guess I don't have a reason to ignore what you're asking me. I mean, this is Tokyo, so it can't get any weirder than that." She kicked a few pebbles below her. "Just…" she looked at the turtle directly in the eyes, "What are you…exactly? And what were you doing?"

"Not so fast," Hoku said sternly. "First, I want to know why you were following me."

"I wasn't following you, I swear," the girl replied defensively, "I was just chilling on this rooftop and enjoying the view. Then I heard something and it frightened me, so I hid. Next thing I knew, you jumped me. Honest!"

Hoku eyed her warily. After watching her facial expressions to conclude no sudden changes in them, he decided that she wasn't hiding anything. He relaxed more of his previously tensed muscles. "Okay then. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I was just…exploring when I thought I heard someone coming from behind me the whole time."

The girl seemed a little more relaxed now. "Exploring, huh? That a thing for you?"

"Yeah, it's the one thing I know I can do all the time."

"So then, it's a regular thing you do. I can already guess what you look like, but what are you exactly?"

"I'm a mutant turtle. I also practice ninjutsu."

The girl blinked a couple times. "Wait, what?"

* * *

 ** _Later…_**

"So, you've been living underneath Tokyo for almost all your life, hiding from people and learning the ways of the ninja in order to do better at that. Seems legit." The girl was sitting on the rooftop's edge, gently swinging her legs while looking down at the blindingly and colorfully lit street that was filled with festive costumers. She munched on a roll while handing another one to Hoku.

"Yeah. I can't really walk around in public with all these crowds, considering this whole situation." Hoku sighed, taking a bite out of the roll held in his hand.

"Are there more like you out there?"

"I do have brothers, but other than them, no."

"Oh, okay. Have you been successful in keeping your secret so far, barring now, I mean?"

Hoku winced at the sound of the girl's question. "Well, there was this one time out in Yoyogi Park when we were caught by a kid and his mom right before falling into a pond. _**'I'**_ managed to convince them we were Harajuku costumers!" He pointed a thumb to himself, poking himself in the plastron with the tip of his thumb for emphasis.

That earned him a giggling snort from the girl herself. "For real?" she struggled not to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand to make it less obvious. "Hits a little too close to home, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Hoku smiled, rolling his eyes, noting sarcastically, "totally not a coincidence!" He then turned to look at the girl directly in the eye once the mild mirth had died down. "By the way, I never asked you what your name was. I don't think we've been properly introduced."

The girl raised her eyebrows in surprise upon the turtle giving her that reminder. "Oh, you're right." She repositioned herself on the ledge so that she sat looking at him face to face. "My name's **Kuroe** ," she introduced herself, leaning forward in a manner meant to convey a bow, " _hajimemashite_."

For a brief moment, Hoku felt somewhat flattered and also relieved to see this teenage human girl express such polite, if not cordial, behavior towards him. He was a mutant and she was a human, two kinds of people who were not guaranteed to get along the best way possible, yet it took a bit of conversation to calm her down enough that a bridge was built – she even shared a roll with him. Perhaps weird things do happen in Tokyo, but it may as well get weirder, and tonight was a blessing. The blue-masked turtle knew that by receiving such a display of common courtesy, exceptionally respectful since it's displayed towards a mutant such as him, he had to return the favor. He bowed back, " _Dōyō ni_. My name is Hokusai."

"Hokusai?" the girl known as Kuroe reacted curiously to the turtle's unconventional name. "Do you like, paint and do art on the side?"

"I view and appreciate art on the side," Hoku replied, "Just because my name's the same as an ancient artist doesn't make me one. What about you? What teenager gets named after a Kansai town anyway?"

Kuroe chuckled somewhat nervously. "Touché. To be honest, my parents were originally going to name me after a piece of lacquerware once. I got lucky." That also earned a few giggles from the turtle himself.

The rest of the conversation continued with more renewed positive energy, the two exchanging back and forth questions and remarks about Harajuku's multi-con-like nature. Kuroe talked about how she visited a nearby boutique down **Takeshita-dōri** that sold a wide assortment of hybridized Victorian-Gothic styles. Hoku brought up his experience with peeking inside the **Laforet** shopping mall, how he thought about sneaking inside to get a closer look at what most people shopping there liked buying, if not just to enjoy the air conditioning. Kuroe included an instance of having bought a pair of 90s-style shades. Hoku replied by describing a moment when he once posed as an automated greeter after he accidentally fell into the open.

"Well, I don't think I've ever had a more fun time in this neighborhood than with you," Kuroe sighed with satisfaction.

The suddenness of such a statement made Hoku's eyes widen, stricken silent by what she said. She didn't turn to face him, but the turtle still stared at her, unsure how exactly he was supposed to respond to that. He didn't know why, but the way she just said such a kind thing made him feel…weird. It was as though he should say something kind back, but had no idea how to do that. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. By the time he managed to even force himself to make a sound, Kuroe turned to speak to him again.

"I mean, meeting someone new is always a benefit, but you're a person I find really, really special." Hoku's jaw and chest tightened up even more, and Kuroe was about to say something else when she looked downwards, her expression changing.

"Is something wrong?" Hoku asked when he saw her face change to an apprehensive expression, expressing concern while masking his relief at not having to respond to her earlier words of questionable casual amicability.

"Hold on," she lifted a hand, signaling not to go any further. She then turned to face the turtle, "I'll be right back." Lifting her feet, she pranced back on her feet, getting back onto the ledge in a crouch before standing up straight. Hoku watched her as she moved, feeling rather confused when seeing her go to another side of the building instead of the module at the center of the rooftop that would lead to the stairwell.

"Uh, Kuroe-san?" he called to her, pointing to the module, "I think the stairs are…" He didn't get to finish his statement as his heart skipped a beat from seeing her jump off the ledge. In a flash, the turtle leapt off where he sat and swung around the corner while grappling it with his own two hands. He pushed as fast and hard as he could when he went around, hoping that somehow and someway, he'd be able to catch the human girl before she fell too fast and hit the concrete below. But he only managed to get two shuffles in when he stopped at the sight before him: Kuroe, instead of falling haplessly or flailing in helpless terror, had just made contact with the wall in front of her with both hands and feet, grappling onto it in a way that secured her as she momentarily slid down the hard surface. She then turned around and jumped back to the building she leapt off before, performing the same maneuver on that wall, going back and forth in a zigzag until she landed safely on the asphalt feet first.

Hoku was both motionless and speechless at what he saw. "Did Kuroe-san just do that?" he exclaimed in his mind. "Does she have ninja training, or something? Or maybe she does parkour on the side?" He didn't have time to dawdle though, as he then spotted her running in the direction of another alleyway further ahead. He launched himself back onto the rooftop and followed her from above, running and jumping from roof to roof as he had done earlier.

* * *

"Come on, lady. Don't make this harder for yourself than it should."

In a darkened alley, a poor young woman was pressed against the wall, defenseless against the hooded thug who stood in front of her much too closely, holding a knife in one hand while demanding that she hand over something to him. The woman was pushing against him, struggling to look for some way out, but the man was holding her tight, giving increasingly impatient snarls. When he saw her slow down in her struggling, he looked down to the purse hanging from her shoulder and bouncing from her hip. He rapidly leaned down to grab at the bag, which elicited a yelp from the woman. He promptly tried to shut her up again.

"You better keep quiet if you know what's good for you!" he hissed. He inched the tip of his knife closer to her neck. The woman struggled to cooperate, but her body would not oblige, leading to her making frightened whimpers again. The man, finally incensed, tightened his grip on the knife as he got ready to give the woman some real pain.

But before he could dig the edge of his knife deeper, a flash of blurs zipped between him and the woman, striking him hard in the arm holding the knife. The man howled in pain as the knife flew out of his hand, clutching his arm from the sudden concussive force that greeted it. On his left in front of the open entrance of the alley stood a punkish girl dressed in black, looking absolutely serious with a leg raised as she was apparently the source of the strike.

"Who the heck are you?" he growled.

"Someone who's about to teach you manners," replied Kuroe, her tone unchanging. "Don't you know better to ask a lady nicely before getting something of theirs?"

"Don't test me!" the man snapped back, scrambling to pick his knife back up. "I already asked her once to hand over her purse, and she's the one who made it a mess!"

That earned a light scoff from the punky goth girl. "Oh, really now? I'm not sure if you noticed, but you didn't ask her at all. You just told her and then yelled at her." She placed her hands on her hips while arching her eyebrows and narrowing her eyes at the thug. "Why don't you just call it quits and avoid yourself further embarrassment?"

That also earned a mocking smirk from the thuggish man. "Oh, you want to talk to me about embarrassment? Go on then! Let's see if anyone wants to listen to some edgy tomboy!" As he was speaking, he was ever so twitching his knife in the poor mugged lady's direction, making her flinch frightfully with every little movement she could spot.

Kuroe's eyes narrowed a little more. It wasn't obvious, but the guy's comment made her glare a little bit. She shifted her stance. "Okay then, have it your way," she whispered gloweringly. She lifted a hand and flicked her fingers, taunting him to come on over to her. The man scoffed in return and directed all his attention at the punky girl, shoving away the woman he initially tried to rob just now. For a second, the two simply stood, staring each other down. Then the man took a running leap forward directly at Kuroe who still didn't move a muscle. But the second the guy got close enough to whip his knife at her throat, she stepped back to the side and delivered a knee to his chin. The man arched his back as he stumbled backwards, but was surprisingly able to stay on his feet. He was clutching his now sore chin when he spotted Kuroe running right at him. The goth teen jumped once she was only a meter away from the guy and swung her leg forward hard enough to clock him again while spinning backwards like a wheel. This time, the guy flew through the air, even zipping by the frightened woman who pushed herself further against the wall before he crashed and slid onto the concrete. The guy wasted no time in following up his recovery with an upcoming fist. His incoming punch was deflected by one of Kuroe's own hands, though it was more of a slap than anything damaging. Both briefly traded hands in the scuffle until the man broke the pattern with an underhanded swing, hoping to get the girl off guard for sure. Kuroe was able to block the swing with her elbow, though she did grunt in pain from the unexpected impact. She knew she only had a few seconds to do a counterstrike before the guy could take advantage of her distraction to land another hit, so she swung her other hand to wherever the man's arms couldn't reach. Luckily, she managed to get her knuckles to graze the side of the man's cheekbone, making him turn his head just a bit. Seeing her newest window, she then threw her knee forward into his gut, launching him backwards. He staggered for a moment, trying to stay upright without falling onto his back. Growling, he looked furiously for some way to effectively get back at the girl who ruined his night. His eyes darted, and then focused on the terrified woman who stood against the wall at the side of the alley. He dove right for the woman and got behind her, throwing one arm around her neck while holding his knife against her neck with his other arm.

"Hah! Got you now!" the man barked smugly, the woman screaming in his grip and Kuroe gasping in disbelief. Kuroe immediately tried to run over to rescue the woman, but the man twitched his grip on the knife. "Take another step and she'll be staining the concrete!" he barked at the teen. Kuroe growled, since she couldn't do anything without risking the other woman's life. The man sneered as he kept the tip of his knife pressed against the woman's neck. "Look at you, not so tough and scary now. What are you going to do?" That was when a hand lightly tapped him on his shoulder from behind. "Who the-" his growling exclamation was cut off by a swift punch in the cheekbone that sent him on a spinning fall back onto the asphalt. This fortunately made him let go of the poor woman who wasted no time taking off out of the alleyway. On her way out, her foot got caught on a cracked part of the pavement, causing her to stumble momentarily. But before she hit the ground, Kuroe managed to catch her in time, stopping her midair with her own hands. She briefly allowed the woman to register her support.

"Are you okay?" Kuroe asked calmly. The woman didn't answer back with words, but she nodded. Kuroe acknowledged her nod and lifted her back onto her feet. "Get to safety. Call the police if you can." She then moved aside to let the woman escape.

At the same time, the thug had just gotten up to turn towards the darkened part of the alley, furiously looking for whoever got behind him, tapped him on the shoulder, and punched him. "You bastard! Show yourself!" He glared into the shadows and out of the shadows, a pair of piercing white eyes opened up and the figure made its way out and stepped into the light, revealing the bipedal mutant turtle himself. "What the-" the man gasped, "a…turtle?" Hoku did not answer back, only opting to continue staring at the now-confused man. The man, now unnerved at the fact that he is currently standing before something that clearly wasn't human, clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on his knife. "Whatever you are, I'm not asking for trouble," he tried talking to the turtle, "so just…scram! Skedaddle!" He waved his knife for a little emphasis.

"Hokusai!" came an exclamation from Kuroe herself, prompting both the man and Hoku to turn their attention to her. "Did you follow me?" She sounded surprisingly annoyed. "Didn't I tell you I'd be back?"

"Hey!" Hoku responded, sounding a little indignant himself, "I just thought you were running headfirst into danger, so I came along to help. I'm not your pet, you know!"

"Well, when someone tells you to keep out of trouble, you should do that!" Kuroe shot back. "It's a common gesture, not a pet-thing!"

"So is helping someone when they need it, even if they don't ask!"

"Do I look that weak next to you, hardshell?"

" _Baka ka?_ "

" _Damare!_ "

The man still stood between the teenage girl and bipedal turtle, looking back and forth between the two in silence as he watched them start to bicker. Seeing as neither one had their attention on him, he opted to know when to fold 'em and began making a sprint past Kuroe.

"We're not done yet!" Kuroe exclaimed while she flung her foot out to trip the man. The man crashed on the concrete chin first but held a firm grip on his knife. No longer sure what to do anymore, he threw himself into Kuroe's direction and swung his knife, aiming for her neck. Kuroe, however, pulled herself back in time and thrusted a knee into the man's chest. The man staggered back while briefly clutching his chest, feeling a small loss of wind. He ran back at her and began mixing his knife attacks with some blows from his other hand and both of his feet, to which Kuroe continued evading. Kuroe readied herself to throw in a punch of her own once she dodged the man's next move…and then the man promptly got sideswiped by Hoku's fist. "Hey! I had him!" Kuroe protested to the turtle.

"Told you I was helping," Hoku said without looking at the girl. He watched the man get up again and hold his knife out tremblingly. He could see in the human's eyes that he was in trouble, realizing the gravity of facing a nonhuman being that could fight better than him. The man tried using his knife on the turtle but it took Hoku snaking his arm under the man's own and twisting it into a squeezing lock to disarm him. Now that the man no longer had his knife, Hoku pulled back his own arm, yanking the man forward, and delivered a kick to the human's side, sending him in Kuroe's direction.

When the man got within inches of Kuroe's person, the teenage girl threw a kick of her own at his back, sending back towards Hoku. Hoku kicked the man back to Kuroe and vice-versa. It was a back-and-forth kickfest between the two. But even when they were kicking, they still didn't stop talking.

"Okay, look! You helped enough!" Kuroe panted between kicks. "I can take it from here!"

"I understand, but you're better off with me doing this with you!" Hoku answered likewise.

"Yeah, I know you're a big strong mutant, but I don't need performance enhancers for this!"

"Hey! In case it wasn't obvious, all this muscle comes from years of training!"

The back-and-forth kicking went on for a little while longer, and by the time they stopped, the man was already dizzy. Slowly swaying left and right, the man staggered for a moment and then fell flat face first onto the pavement. Kuroe and Hoku looked down at him carefully, silently and patiently watching him for any signs he was still breathing, and fortunately he was, letting them both breathe a sign of relief.

"You think he's going to be fine?" Hoku turned to ask the human girl.

"Well, he's not dead," Kuroe replied. "I think he'll be okay when he wakes up…assuming it doesn't take until morning." Both of them then resumed their silence.

Kuroe looked at Hoku, who also did the same, and couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. The chuckle proved a little contagious to Hoku, who also made a little chuckle himself. That in turn caused Kuroe's chuckle to grow into a giggle and the turtle imitated her in turn. In the short span of a few seconds, both of them were starting to laugh loudly, clutching their sides while trying to keep themselves from falling over in their mirth. Once they calmed down and caught their breaths, they looked each other in the eyes again, smiling.

"Did you see all that?" Kuroe sighed, still in the middle of regaining her energy. "Did we really just do this?"

"Looks like it," Hoku struggled to keep his composure, wiping his brow dry. "I can't remember how we even managed to pull this off! You saw how dangerous that guy was, didn't you?"

"Yeah, he was!" Kuroe quipped with a tone of pretend-exasperation. "But boy, you should've seen the look on his face when he saw you! It was priceless!"

"Uh, I was there, so I did see it," Hoku grinned, "but yeah, it totally was priceless."

Both of them gave a little laugh in turn before diverting their gazes away from each other to random parts of the alleyway. Neither one said a word for a little while longer until Kuroe made the first move to break the silence.

"Hey uh, Hokusai? Sorry about what I said to you earlier. I was just so caught up in busting the mugging that I didn't think straight." She rubbed the back of her head as she apologized, her eyes having not glanced at the turtle once.

Hoku, however, was the one who chose to be a little closer. "It's fine. I get it," he replied, his voice being quieter to emphasize his empathy, "Some things just happen and you can only do what you can. Besides," he shrugged his shoulders with his hands raised in a manner of cluelessness, "I've been taught to expect this kind of treatment."

"That part of your training?" Kuroe snorted.

"Yeah," Hoku answered bluntly.

"So then…" Kuroe finally turned to look him in the eye, "no hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings," Hoku smiled. He lifted his three-digit hand towards the girl, who looked rather surprised at the turtle's gesture. Kuroe paused for a moment, remembering how she earlier extended a gesture of goodwill to him, but then lifted her own hand to grasp Hoku's to perform a firm but gentle handshake.

When they both parted ways, they held feelings of accomplishment within themselves which they held with pride, considering that it all happened within their first meeting. One felt a warmth in their heart about how they forged a bond even within the fire of conflict. The other felt satisfaction over having met who was perhaps the most unique person there is without a major problem.

* * *

" _Tadaima_ ," Hoku called out as he walked into the main atrium of the lair where his three other brothers along with their father were present.

" _Ōkairinasai_ ," Mon was the first to respond to his eldest brother, giving a happy wave. "How was the scouting?"

"Great," Hoku answered back. He was brief but not in a way that he demanded silence from everyone else.

"I trust that you made a new discovery in your journey, Hokusai?" his father, **Sensei** , inquired from a meter away.

"Yeah, sensei," said Hoku with a smile. "I think I made a new friend tonight."

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere in **Shinjuku** , a large double-door from within a privately owned estate slide open to allow a teenage human girl to pass through. She walked for a little bit until she stopped and knelt down on one knee, her head bowed with her eyes facing the floor.

"I have returned, _otō-sama_ ," she spoke, her voice faintly echoing across the walls of the large chamber.

"And so you have, my daughter," came a deep and imposing masculine voice, evidently indicating a man much older than her who could only be her aforementioned otō-sama. "I trust you made progress during your patrol?"

"Yes," she answered. "In fact, I met a rather unusual fellow…"

* * *

 _Some stuff about **Harajuku** :_

 _While the area is a district in Shibuya, it's also a common name geographically. Anywhere from Harajuku Station to Omotesando, you are technically on Harajuku grounds. Aside from that, Harajuku is known by the rest of the world as Japan's center for youth culture and fashion. Anywhere you find boutiques/clothing stores, cafes, accessory shops, etc...are pretty much youth-themed if not youth-oriented. Plus they all hold a variety of fashion styles, even if they are mainly European in design. You could say that it's the urban center for kids._

 _ **Takeshita-dōri**_ (竹下通り) _, or Takeshita Street, is one of Harajuku's most well-known pedestrian shopping streets (no motor vehicles allowed). Housing both shops of major chains and small independent businesses of diverse styles, this street contributes to the introduction of broader fads to visiting shoppers, -aka- a trendsetter. It's very popular with teens and older young people looking for something cute to take home._

 _ **Laforet**_ (ラフォーレ原宿) _is a shopping mall/complex in Harajuku. It serves as a department store, residence, and museum all at the same time. Like everywhere else in Harajuku, it is a hub for boutique businesses, though it wasn't originally intended to serve that purpose at the time it was built. Designed with six floors and two basements divided into half-levels, it is home to 150 shops with its museum on the top floor._

 _Hajimemashite_ (はじめまして) - _pleased to meet you_

 _Dōyō ni_ (同様に) - _likewise; same to you_

 _Baka ka?_ (ばかか？) - _Are you stupid?_

 _Damare!_ (黙れ！) - _Shut up! (probably not as common as someone saying "urusai", though)_

 _Tadaima_ (ただいま) - _I'm back/I'm home (greeting)_

 _Ōkairinasai_ (おうかいりなさい) - _Welcome back/Welcome home (greeting)_

 _Otō-sama_ (お父様) - _father (formal address, for a dad who's high up the chain/social ladder)_

 _*There is an actual town in the Wakayama Prefecture of western Japan's Kansai region called " **Kuroe** "_ (黒江) _which is very important, culturally and historically. It's known for keeping alive the centuries old traditional art of lacquer, which involves polish finishes (usually black, hence the town's name) on smoothly carved wooden items, giving that unique glossy luster on par with porcelain. Such lacquerware craftsmanship is known as " **shikki**_ _"_ (漆器) _or " **urushinuri** "_ (漆塗) _. Ancient traditional architecture on several of its buildings, particularly the merchant houses, are also maintained, further cementing the town's historical and cultural significance._

 _As usual, feel free to leave a comment/review if anything about this interested you. See you later!_


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